Russian Memorial’s Central Asia Chief Deported From Kyrgyzstan

A number of opposition and rights activists have been detained throughout Kazakhstan because the day of an early presidential election scheduled for November 20 nears.

Police within the southwestern city of Zhanaozen on November 15 detained famous opposition activist Estai Qarashaev, who was sentenced to 6 days in jail a number of hours in a while a cost of violating rules for holding public gatherings.

Qarashaev was amongst oil staff who protested in 2011 to demand larger wages. Police brutally dispersed the protests, killing no less than 16 folks.

Within the nation’s largest metropolis, Almaty, on November 15, police detained Aset Abishev, a member of the founding committee of the Algha Qazaqstan (Ahead, Kazakhstan) occasion that has been attempting unsuccessfully for eight months to get registered for the election.

It isn’t clear why Abishev was detained. Final week, 5 different members of the unregistered occasion have been detained for participating in an unsanctioned rally in August.

WATCH: A number of activists of a Kazakh opposition motion have been arrested and police have been stationed outdoors the door of one other forward of a snap presidential election scheduled for November 20.

In the meantime, within the village of Bobrovka within the East Kazakhstan area, rights activist Serik Ydyryshev was detained, his spouse Gulmira Berikqyzy informed RFE/RL on November 15. In keeping with Berikqyzy, her husband’s arrest is linked to the upcoming early presidential election. The police division of the East Kazakhstan area was not out there for remark.

At some point earlier, opposition activist Rashid Qamaldanov was sentenced in Almaty to fifteen days in jail for participating in an unsanctioned rally earlier this 12 months.

In Astana, the capital, jailed activist Sandughash Qantarbaeva stared a starvation strike final weekend, protesting her administrative arrest that she says was handed to her to forestall her from participating in protests on the day of the presidential election.

Many activists complained to RFE/RL that they’ve been adopted and that police have been monitoring their properties. In keeping with the activists, the stress imposed on them is straight linked to the presidential ballot, whereas the nation’s Structure ensures them freedom of expression and freedom of public gatherings. An Inside Ministry official denied that measures to forestall the activists from holding rallies on the day of election are underneath approach.

President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, who has tried to place himself as a reformer, on September 1 known as the early presidential election and proposed altering the presidential time period to seven years from 5 years. Beneath the brand new system, future presidents will probably be barred from looking for multiple time period.

Critics say Toqaev’s initiatives have been primarily beauty and don’t change the character of the autocratic system in a rustic that has been plagued for years by rampant corruption and nepotism.

Toqaev’s predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who ran the tightly managed former Soviet republic with an iron fist for nearly three a long time, selected Toqaev as his successor when he stepped down in 2019.

Although he was not president, Nazarbaev retained sweeping powers as the pinnacle of the Safety Council. He additionally loved substantial powers by holding the title of “elbasy” or chief of the nation.

Many voters, nonetheless, remained upset by the oppression throughout Nazarbaev’s reign.

These emotions got here to a head in January when unprecedented antigovernment nationwide protests began over a gas value hike, after which exploded into countrywide lethal unrest over perceived corruption underneath the Nazarbaev regime and the cronyism that allowed his household and shut mates to complement themselves whereas strange residents did not share within the oil-rich Central Asian nation’s wealth.

Toqaev subsequently stripped Nazarbaev of his Safety Council function, taking it over himself. Since then, a number of of Nazarbaev’s kinfolk and allies have been pushed out of their positions or resigned. Some have been arrested on corruption costs.

A Toqaev-initiated referendum in June eliminated Nazarbaev’s identify from the structure and annulled his standing as “elbasy.”

msh/mj