The New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) said on August 22 that it had filed a submission with the Special Procedures division of the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of Marat Zhylanbaev, the imprisoned leader of the unregistered Algha Qazaqstan (Forward Kazakhstan) political party.
Zhylanbaev, a noted human rights activist and athlete, was arrested in May 2023 and initially sentenced to 20 days in jail for holding a picket two months earlier to demand the release of political prisoners and to ask Western nations to impose sanctions on Kazakh officials for "helping" Russia evade sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
Zhylanbaev was later remanded in custody on charges of taking part in a banned group's activities and financing an extremist organization.
In late November 2023, a court in Astana found Zhylanbaev guilty and sentenced him to seven years in prison while also banning him from engaging in social and political activities.
In June 2024, the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan rejected Zhylanbaev's appeal against his incarceration.
Investigators say the activities of Zhylanbaev and his followers were coordinated by the fugitive critic of the Kazakh government, Mukhtar Ablyazov, whose Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement was labeled as extremist and banned in the country in March 2018. Zhylanbaev is also accused of transferring money to supporters of DVK twice.
Zhylanbaev rejects the charges against him, calling them politically motivated.
"Kazakhstan failed to release Mr. Zhylanbaev when his pretrial detention was set to end in July 2023 and held him in a cell with a convicted individual while awaiting trial. His closed trial took place before a tightly controlled judiciary, and all but one of his requests to call witnesses was denied. His detention cannot be justified under these circumstances," HRF International Legal Associate Kaitie Holland said.
"The Kazakh regime has demonstrated a pattern of suppressing dissent by consistently classifying the opposition as 'extremist.'"
HRF asked UN Special Procedures to investigate Zhylanbaev's case and called on Kazakhstan to release him immediately.