After months of uncertainty, the family of prominent ethnic Kazakh writer and satirist Zhengis Reskhan has learned that he faces a closed-door trial in China and could spend a decade in prison.
Reskhan has been detained since March 19 following months of police interrogations. Until now, his family had received no official confirmation of where he was being held and had no contact with him.
Reskhan’s family says Chinese police had previously accused him of having “extremist” ideas, an allegation conveyed to them verbally. He is now accused of “undermining ethnic unity,” according to his son, Nartai Zhengis.
Nartai said his father’s trial is scheduled for August 15 and will be held in secret. He told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service that his father’s lawyer informed the family that “no one will be allowed to attend the trial.”
Reskhan’s wife, Nartai’s mother, will also be barred from the proceedings, he said, adding that the lawyer told him that once the court issues its verdict “the only information that might be made public would be something like: ‘He was sentenced to this many years in prison.’”
The family has been told that Reskhan could face up to 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted.
Nartai said the “undermining ethnic unity” allegation had been added to the earlier accusation that his father was guilty of “extremist thought.”
The family has not seen an indictment or other court documents identifying the legal basis for the accusation.
A Test Case?
The charge comes shortly after China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress took effect on July 1. Adopted by the National People’s Congress in March, the controversial measure establishes a broad legal framework for interethnic relations and includes provisions concerning conduct deemed to undermine ethnic unity.
Whether the allegation against Reskhan is being brought under the new law remains unclear.
If the case falls under this legislation, it could provide an early indication of how the law is being applied to ethnic minority defendants.
Beijing says its provisions will “strengthen the rule of law” and "better protect” the rights of China's 56 officially recognized ethnic groups. The measure, however, has drawn criticism from advocacy organizations, UN experts, the European Union, and Western governments over concerns that it could further restrict minority rights and extend Beijing's ethnic policies beyond China's borders.
UN experts warned in April that the statute risked entrenching “a uniform approach to ethnic relations across all regions,” while Human Rights Watch and the European Parliament have called for its repeal. Beijing has rejected international criticism of the legislation as a “malicious smear” and interference in China's internal affairs.
Separately, Amnesty International issued a call on July 14 calling for Reskhan's immediate release unless Chinese authorities can provide “sufficient credible and admissible evidence” that he committed an internationally recognized criminal offense.
'Unlawful From The Very Beginning'
Chinese authorities have remained tight-lipped about Reskhan’s case, including the legal basis for the allegations against him.
“We have received no response whatsoever from the Chinese side,” his son said.
As a Kazakh citizen living in Kazakhstan, Nartai has appealed to Astana to intervene -- a sensitive issue for a government that has long balanced concerns over the treatment of ethnic Kazakhs in China with close political and economic ties to Beijing.
According to Nartai, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry told him that his father is a Chinese citizen and that the case falls under Beijing’s jurisdiction. The ministry advised the family to seek assistance from the relevant Chinese authorities, he said.
While Astana has declined to intervene, Nartai has rejected the allegations against his father and said the proceedings have no legal basis.
“Everything that my father is currently going through and experiencing, whether under international law or under the laws of the People’s Republic of China itself, is unlawful from the very beginning up to the present day,” he said. “It violates China’s own laws as well as every applicable legal standard.”
Nartai also accused officials in Xinjiang of targeting his father because of his professional achievements and reputation.
“This is the work of people within the local government in Xinjiang, China, people who blindly carry out orders, who are envious of and unable to accept my father’s achievements and successes in his position, as well as the respect and standing he has earned within the country,” he said.
A writer and satirist from Xinjiang, Reskhan has worked as a teacher, editor, and cultural official. He is a member of the China Writers Association and the Xinjiang Writers Association and previously served as chairman of the Hami Regional Writers Association.
He has published 13 literary works, mainly children’s literature and humorous writing, several of which have been officially translated from Kazakh into Chinese.
Reskhan's case comes against the backdrop of years of repression in Xinjiang, where ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other predominantly Muslim minorities have faced mass detention and restrictions on their cultural, religious, and linguistic rights.
Beijing maintains its policies in Xinjiang are aimed at combating terrorism and extremism and denies allegations of widespread abuses.
Rights groups, former detainees, and Western governments, however, have rejected those claims, while a 2022 UN human rights assessment said allegations of arbitrary detention and other abuses in Xinjiang were credible and could constitute crimes against humanity.
