Kazakhstan: civil society organisations are calling for personal sanctions for lack of international and impartial investigations of violent crackdown on peaceful protesters

Written declaration No. 745 | Doc. 15575 | 27 June 2022

Signatories:

Mr Roberto RAMPI, Italy, SOC ; Lord Andrew ADONIS, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Nerea AHEDO, Spain, ALDE ; Ms Tonia ANTONIAZZI, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Duncan BAKER, United Kingdom, EC/DA ; Ms Romilda BALDACCHINO ZARB, Malta, SOC ; Mr Fourat BEN CHIKHA, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Caspar Van den BERG, Netherlands, ALDE ; Mr Chris BONETT, Malta, SOC ; Ms Naomi CACHIA, Malta, SOC ; Ms Laura CASTEL, Spain, UEL ; Ms Tarja FILATOV, Finland, SOC ; Mr Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Cressida GALEA, Malta, SOC ; Mr Paul GALLES, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Paul GAVAN, Ireland, UEL ; Mr Gerardo GIOVAGNOLI, San Marino, SOC ; Ms Inka HOPSU, Finland, SOC ; Ms Maria JUFEREVA-SKURATOVSKI, Estonia, ALDE ; Mr Christophe LACROIX, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Jacques MAIRE, France, ALDE ; Mr Gianni MARILOTTI, Italy, SOC ; Ms Octavie MODERT, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Simon MOUTQUIN, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Fiona O'LOUGHLIN, Ireland, ALDE ; Mr Gianluca PERILLI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Paulo PISCO, Portugal, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Frank SCHWABE, Germany, SOC ; Mr Tommy SHEPPARD, United Kingdom, NR ; Mr Andreas Sjalg UNNELAND, Norway, UEL

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

We, the undersigned, declare the following:

Since January 2022, no list of the 10 000 arrested peaceful protesters and hundreds killed has been published; the number of political prisoners has been increased by 133 to 145.

Victims of torture Moldabay Sadibekov, Akylzhan Kiysimbayev, Kosai Makhanbayev are persecuted for demanding justice, to employ the OSCE Moscow Mechanism and UN special procedures.

We demand investigation of every torture complain, as well as those made prior to the January protests, including of Iskander Yerimbetov and Aset Abishev.

Despite of announced “New Kazakhstan” reforms, the new independent political parties, such as “Alga, Kazakhstan!” are not allowed to be registered; peaceful protests, including against the Russian Federation’s aggression in Ukraine, remain restricted. The referendum was conducted with multiple irregularities; constitutional amendments do not bring any substantial political improvements.

We deplore the fabrication of posthumous accusations in terrorism or looting, as in cases of Nurbolat Alpamys and Nursultan Kuatbayev, to justify the pretext for inviting a Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation military to suppress peaceful protests.

We call on Kazakhstan to immediately release all political prisoners, including Saltanat Kusmankyzy, Bekizhan Mendygaziyev, stop persecution of Aya Sadvakasova, Raigul Sadyrbayeva, Aliya Issenova, Bakhytzhan Toregozhina, Shalipa Bekkulova, Ayan Kalmurat, who identified 194 killed peaceful civilians and impose personal sanctions to perpetrators.