QONAEV, Kazakhstan -- A court in Kazakhstan's southern town of Qonaev on August 2 sentenced journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim to 7 years in prison for financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group's activities, charges he rejects as politically motivated.
The court also banned Mukhammedkarim from performing public activities for three years.
Mukhammedkarim's lawyer, Ghalym Nurpeisov, said the ruling will be appealed.
A day earlier, Mukhammedkarim reiterated his innocence, stressing he criticized the government "only for the sake of Kazakhstan's further development, which is not a crime," his lawyers said.
While, Mukhammedkarim was delivering his final statement in the courtroom, dozens of his supporters chanted "Liberty! Liberty!" near the court building as the trial was held behind closed doors.
Two of the supporters, Abzal Dostyar and Bekzat Maqsutkhan, were detained then and later sentenced to 20 and 10 days in jail, respectively, on a charge of violating regulations for holding public events.
On July 18, Mukhammedkarim was transferred to a hospital as his health dramatically deteriorated following several hunger strikes to protest the secrecy of the trial.
Mukhammedkarim, whose Ne Deidi? (What Do They Say?) YouTube channel is extremely popular in Kazakhstan, was sent to pretrial detention in June 2023 over an online interview he did with fugitive banker and outspoken government critic Mukhtar Ablyazov.
Ablyazov's Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement was declared extremist and banned in the country in March 2018. As Mukhammedkarim's trial started on February 12, he complained of being beaten by jail guards, prompting prosecutors to launch an investigation into the matter.
Mukhammedkarim's trial was then postponed until an unspecified date to allow for the investigation, which was shut down later due to a purported lack of evidence.
The proceedings resumed after that.
Domestic and international right organizations have urged the Kazakh authorities to drop all charges against Mukhammedkarim and immediately release him. Kazakh rights defenders have recognized Mukhammedkarim as a political prisoner.
Rights watchdogs have criticized the authorities in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic for persecuting dissent, but Astana has shrugged off the criticism, saying there are no political prisoners in the country.
The oil-rich Central Asian nation was ruled by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev from before its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until current President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev succeeded him in 2019.
Over the past three decades, several opposition figures have been killed and many jailed or forced to flee the country.
Toqaev, who broadened his powers after Nazarbaev and his family left the oil-rich country's political scene following the deadly, unprecedented antigovernment protests in January 2022, has promised political reforms and more freedoms for citizens.
However, many in Kazakhstan describe the reforms announced by Toqaev as cosmetic, and a crackdown on dissent has continued even after the president announced his "New Kazakhstan" program.