Human Rights Watch World Report 1997 - Kazakstan
| Publisher | Human Rights Watch |
| Publication Date | 1 January 1997 |
| Cite as | Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch World Report 1997 - Kazakstan, 1 January 1997, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a8ae30.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
| Comments | This report covers events of 1996 |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Human Rights Developments
The Kazakstan government generally observed the rule of law in 1996 and, indeed, took dramatic action in response to serious problems in its penitentiary system. However, its 1996 record continued to be marred by persistent abuse in detention, abysmal prison conditions, attacks on the media, and varying degrees of harassment of leaders of the ethnic Cossack and Uighur communities. After almost a year's hiatus in which democratic electoral processes were suspended, in January President Nursultan Nazarbaev finally restored democratic rights by reinstating the parliament, which he had illegally suspended in March 1995 and replaced with unilateral rule by the president and his Cabinet of Ministers. Also heartening was the Kazakstan government's response to the entrenched problem of appalling prison conditions and serious mistreatment of detainees. According to the local newspaper Karavan-Blitz (Almaty) of June 4, some 2,500 inmates died in Kazakstan jails last year. Kazakstan was also vilified in a July report by Amnesty International for holding fourth place in the world for the number of executions and for shocking mistreatment of inmates. The government pledged to initiate a "stage-by-stage transition" from death to life sentences, proposed a ten-year program to bring jail conditions up to international standards, and issued an amnesty in July that, according to local monitors, resulted in the release of several thousand inmates from among a total prison population of 78,000, and the reduction in sentence of unknown more. Sadly, the amnesty was justified publicly by citing the dropping crime rate rather than the necessity to reduce human rights abuse. Parts of the media had to battle for their independence in court this year. Although Kazakstan enjoyed broad press freedom, the independent Kazakstan-American Bureau on Human Rights alleged that independent journalists were increasingly persecuted by the state, such as being charged with slander for expression of critical political opinions. The group also charged that a new censorship regime had been introduced by the State Radio and Television Committee. The independent Kazakstan newspaper Dozhivem Do Ponedel'nika was forcibly closed this year, and in May, the procurator's office threatened closure of the widely read Russian newspaper Komsomol'skaia Pravda unless its publishers issued a statement of regret for having published the provocative views of Russian nationalist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The newspaper complied, and threats of charges were dropped. At the same time, in September a Radio Liberty stringer won damages from local officials who detained him illegally on his way to cover the visit of a Chinese dignitary. Two cases of imprisonment and abuse of Cossack leaders in late 1995 and 1996 set an ominous tone for ethnic relations. On October 28, 1995, Nikolai Gunkin, ataman (leader) of the Semirech'e Cossack Host, was arrested in Almaty on his way to register as a candidate in the elections to the lower house of parliament. On November 21 he was sentenced to three months of imprisonmentunder Article 183-1 of the Criminal Code ("organizing an unsanctioned meeting," which he claimed was a peaceful religious procession in January 1995). Two weeks before his sentencing, unidentified assailants broke into the home of Gunkin's defense attorney, Ivan Kravtsov, and assaulted his wife, Iraida, who had to be hospitalized. Kravtsov withdrew from the defense the following day. Gunkin alleged that, once in detention, he was attacked by prison guards and that they threw cold water on him to force him to end a hunger strike. In an eerily similar case, on August 20, 1996, Nina Sidorova, head of the Russian Center and advocate for the rights of Cossacks, was arrested on charges of resisting police authority and contempt of court. She, too, was arrested months after her alleged crime, and only when she made a political claim (attempting to register her group as a social organization). In statements received by Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, Ms. Sidorova claimed she was repeatedly beaten by guards and, prior to meetings with visitors, was shut in a small dark space, an experience she found so traumatizing that she ultimately refused to see anyone from the outside. On September 11, her defense attorney, middle-aged Maria Larshina, was beaten with a heavy object by an unknown man loitering outside her home, requiring her to be hospitalized. On September 22, Ms. Sidorova was released on bail pending trial, a concession to international pressure.The Right to Monitor
Monitoring generally took place unimpeded. The May 31 law on social organizations reaffirmed in principle government support for such groups as human rights organizations.The Role of the International Community
Europe
The OSCE monitored parliamentary elections in December 1995 and protested violations of the electoral process. The European Commission opened an official representative office in Almaty on April 12 and the European Union became the single largest donor to Kazakstan. Following President Nazarbaev's suspension of parliament in 1995, the European Parliament decided to withhold assent for the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement which was signed by the E.U. and Kazakstan in 1995. The agreement is conditioned on the parties' respect for human rights and democratic principles as set out in OSCE documents.China
In April, Kazakstan government officials signed a pact with Chinese counterparts in Shanghai to strengthen their common borders. This was formalized by a July 5 joint declaration in which China and Kazakstan pledged, among other things, that "they are opposed to national separatism in any form and they will not permit any organizations and forces to engage in separatist activities in their respective territories against the other side." Because the Chinese government often paints its ethnic Uighur minority as separatist-minded saboteurs, this is undoubtedly an implicit reference to Kazakstan's Uighur population, which shares language and culture with Uighurs in neighboring regions of China. The commitment ensured that Kazakstan, among other signatory countries, would turn a blind eye to the "Strike Hard" crackdown against Uighurs the Chinese had embarked on several months before throughout China. The campaign reportedly led to hundreds of illegal arrests. The agreement prompted Kazakstan authorities to prevent Uighurs from staging a public rally during the Chinese president's visit in July, in violation of their right to freedom of assembly.Copyright notice: © Copyright, Human Rights Watch
