ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Three activists from Uzbekistan's Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan are reported to have been placed in pretrial detention on unspecified charges in Kazakhstan.
Almaty-based Karakalpak activist Akylbek Muratov told RFE/RL on September 20 that last week two Karakalpak men, Koshkarbai Toremuratov and Jangeldi Jaksymbetov, were placed in pretrial custody for at least 40 days in the Si-18 detention center in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty.
Muratov added that a third Karakalpak activist, Raisa Kudaibergenova, was also sent to pretrial detention on unknown charges for at least 40 days last week and is currently in a detention center in the town of Qonaev in the Almaty region.
Muratov cited relatives and friends of Toremuratov and Jaksymbetov earlier as saying that the two were detained last week. Toremuratov's wife told Muratov last week that her husband telephoned her after he was detained saying he was told he faces charges of "violating the constitutional order" and "preparing materials that harm social order."
The reported arrests may be linked to mass protests in Karakalpakstan in early July after changes initiated by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev were proposed to the Uzbek Constitution. The changes included the removal of an article that guaranteed the right of Karakalpakstan to seek independence should its citizens choose to do so in a referendum.
The European Union has called for an independent investigation into the violent events in Karakalpakstan that, according to Uzbek authorities, left 21 persons dead.
Karakalpaks are a Central Asian Turkic-speaking people. Their region used to be an autonomous area within Kazakhstan before becoming autonomous within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1930 and then part of Uzbekistan in 1936.