PETROPAVL, Kazakhstan -- Kazakh civil right activist Asqar Qaiyrbek has been released from prison after a court replaced the remainder of his prison term with a parole-like penalty amid an outcry by human rights groups over political prisoners in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.
Qaiyrbek, recognized by Kazakh human rights organizations as a political prisoner, left the ES-164/3 penal colony in the northern city of Petropavl early in the morning on May 19, just over two weeks after the Petropavl City Court ruled the 45-year-old activist's 26-month prison term would be changed unless prosecutors appealed the decision.
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Since no appeal was filed, the decision became official on May 18, paving the way for Qaiyrbek to leave the prison.
Qaiyrbek was arrested in September 2020 and sentenced in June last year on extremism charges stemming from his support for the opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) and its affiliate Koshe (Street) party. The two groups are labeled as extremist and banned in Kazakhstan.
He has rejected the charges, saying they are politically motivated.
On April 25, rights defenders said Qaiyrbek was severely beaten by prison guards. Kazakhstan’s Penitentiary Service has confirmed Qaiyrbek sustained bruises and injuries but did not give any other details or say how the injuries occurred.
Qaiyrbek is the fourth political prisoner in Kazakhstan imprisoned for supporting DVK and the Koshe party to be released in recent weeks after their prison terms were replaced with parole-like sentences amid protests by Kazakh rights defenders and opposition activists.
Many activists across the Central Asian nation have been handed prison terms or parole-like restricted freedom sentences in recent years for their involvement in the activities of DVK and the Koshe party and for taking part in the rallies organized by the two groups.
DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) earlier this year criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. Several hundred people have been prosecuted for membership in the Koshe party.
The Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the country.