On August 2, Duman Mukhammedkarim, a Kazakh journalist, was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of “financing extremist activities” and “participating in the activities of a banned extremist organization.”
He’s not the first journalist or activist to be charged under Kazakhstan’s various terrorism and extremism related statutes, the application of which human rights groups have long argued is overly broad.
“Outspoken government critics engaged in peaceful activism continue to face regular police harassment, including unfounded arrest and criminal charges for alleged membership in so-called banned ‘extremist’ organizations,” Human Rights Watch argued in a new report that highlights the economic targeting that follows from charges of extremism.
Anyone convicted of a terrorism- or extremism-related charge is automatically added to Kazakhstan’s “list of organizations and people associated with financing terrorism and extremism” (aka the “Financing Terrorism List”) regardless of whether their alleged crimes actually involved financing an extremist group or the actual commission or promotion of violence.
There are 15 “terrorist” offenses and 12 “extremist” offenses in Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code, and no distinction between violent and non-violent acts. And over the years, Astana has branded as “extremist” certain groups that most would consider simply “opposition.”
Mukhammedkarim’s conviction was built on his airing of an interview with fugitive banker and exiled government critic Mukhtar Ablyazov in December 2022. Ablyazov’s Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) was ruled to be an “extremist” organization in March 2018. It’s not the only political party to be banned with such a label, in May 2020 the recently formed Koshe Party was also banned as an “extremist” group.
As Human Rights Watch wrote, “The decisions to ban the groups were based on state-commissioned psychological-linguistic analyses of the groups’ material posted on social media. The court rulings did not cite any other evidence showing that either group had advocated or engaged in violence.”
And yet association with the group has landed a number of individuals on the Financing Terrorism List following convictions. Abay Begimbetov, one of the activists profiled in the new report, was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2021 for membership in the Koshe Party. In May 2022, he was released from prison, his sentenced replaced with parole-like conditions, but Begimbetov remains subject to financial restrictions.
Being on the Financing Terrorism List subjects an individual to considerable restrictions, including being blocked from accessing their bank accounts, using credit or debit cards, or conducting certain financial transactions at the post office or notary.
Abaibek Sultanov, an activist who was sentenced to parole-like conditions for alleged links with the DVK in May 2021, told Human Rights Watch that he considered the financial restrictions “an economic blockade.” Another activist who faced similar charges, Darkhan Valiev, described being on the list as “being left completely without means of survival.”
For some, the financial restrictions come as a surprise. Valiev told Human Rights Watch, “There is nothing about these restrictions in the verdict. And [the authorities] don’t explain either.”
Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a press release, “If you participate in peaceful anti-government protests in Kazakhstan, not only can the government prosecute you as an ‘extremist,’ but it can cut you off financially.”
She called on Kazakhstan to “end its pernicious use of extremism and terrorism laws against peaceful critics and others and remove anyone currently on the Financing Terrorism List who has been convicted of nonviolent crimes.”
In the report, Human Rights Watch noted that “it is possible that some of the 1,433 people… on the state’s Financing Terrorism List committed or instigated violent acts,” but confirmed that those interviewed were prosecuted for peaceful political or religious activities. Several were referenced in a October 2021 decision by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which found their detentions to be illegal.
Human Rights Watch recommended that the Kazakh government work to revise its extremism and terrorism-related laws – specifically revising the definition of “extremism.” They also recommend reviewing the process by which individuals are added to the Financing Terrorism List, particularly ending automatic inclusion. The report also calls for Kazakhstan to “[a]llow free speech and criticism of the authorities without fear of retribution” and to allow political opposition groups to operate.
Only a handful of new political parties have been registered since Kazakhstan lowered the threshold from 20,000 members to 5,000 in 2022, including the Respublica party in January 2023 and Yntymaq in May 2024. But parties that have been vocally critical of the government, such as Alga, Kazakhstan! – which Kazkah authorities accuse of ties to the DVK – have persistently been denied registration. In April 24, Alga was denied for the 24th time.