PETROPAVL, Kazakhstan -- A Kazakh court has replaced another activist's prison sentence with a parole-like penalty amid an outcry by human rights groups over political prisoners in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.
The Petropavl City Court in Kazakhstan's north ruled late on May 3 that the remainder of Asqar Qaiyrbek's 26-month prison term must be replaced by a parole-like sentence, adding that the decision will take force on May 18 unless it is appealed by prosecutors.
Qaiyrbek, recognized by Kazakh human organizations as a political prisoner, was arrested in September 2020 and sentenced in June last year on extremism charges stemming from his support of the opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) and its affiliate Koshe (Street) party. The two groups have been labeled as extremist and banned in Kazakhstan.
He has rejected the charges as politically motivated.
On April 25, rights defenders said Qaiyrbek was severely beaten by prison guards. Kazakhstan’s Penitentiary Service then confirmed that Qaiyrbek sustained bruises and injuries but did not give any other details or say how the injuries occurred.
Qaiyrbek is the fourth political prisoner in Kazakhstan imprisoned for supporting DVK and the Koshe party to have their prison term replaced with a parole-like sentence since March amid protests by Kazakh rights defenders and opposition activists.
Many activists across the Central Asian nation have been handed prison terms or parole-like restricted-freedom sentences in recent years for their involvement in the activities of DVK and the Koshe party and for taking part in the rallies organized by the two groups.
DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) earlier this year criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. Several hundred people have been prosecuted for membership in the Koshe party.
The Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the country.