In an embarrassing episode only weeks before Kazakhstan’s presidential election, an activist has found himself behind bars for organizing an unsanctioned march through the capital. Interior Ministry spokesman Kuanyshbek Zhumanov announced today that one organizer had received a 15-day prison sentence over the unsanctioned March 15 protest, the Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency reported, and three other participants had been fined around $10.
The Socialist Resistance activist website identified the protestor as Yesenbek Ukteshbayev, leader of the Let's Leave Housing for the People movement, which -- along with the For Worthy Housing group -- rallied in Astana for the right to decent housing. That includes the rights of angry would-be homeowners who pre-paid for apartments now languishing unfinished due to the credit crunch, sometimes for years.
Activists demanded unsuccessfully to speak to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and some campaigners occupied the headquarters of the ruling Nur Otan party building; others marched through the center of the capital, leading to dozens of arrests, as a photo report carried by the Respublika newspaper today shows. They also chanted slogans urging a boycott of Kazakhstan’s April 3 presidential election.
On March 16 leading members of labor unions and activist movements issued a statement protesting Ukteshbayev’s imprisonment. “We demand from the authorities an immediate review of the administrative case and the freeing of Yesenbek Ukteshbayev, and also appeal to the public urging the organization of a campaign against this sort of abuse,” it said.
Public protest is tightly controlled in Kazakhstan and requires prior official permission. Fines for those who break the rules are common, but prison sentences are rarer: the last high-profile case was the brief jailing of Vladimir Kozlov, leader of the unregistered Alga! DVK party, last March for breaching public assembly laws.
Kozlov remains in the spotlight: His party is now one of the main organizers of the campaign to boycott the presidential election. That’s raised the hackles of the Nazarbayev administration, determined to secure a high turnout.
Kazakhstan’s top electoral official weighed into the boycott row on March 16. “As for the turnout, it’s a very serious question for us; we’re seriously working around this; we are aware of the literally destructive actions of one unregistered political party, Alga! – It’s literally carrying out destructive work, calling for a boycott of the elections,” Kuandyk Turgankulov told a briefing in remarks quoted by Novosti-Kazakhstan.
The administration may have hoped for a quiet campaign ahead of an election Nazarbayev is guaranteed to win, but events have a habit of taking unexpected turns. Could Turgankulov’s outburst be a sign of fraying tempers in Astana?
Joanna Lillis is a journalist based in Almaty and author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan.
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