“Kazakhstan should release rights defenders Bokayev and
Ayan” – UN experts
GENEVA / WARSAW (6 December 2016) – UN human rights
experts* today called on Kazakhstan to immediately release human rights
defenders Max Bokayev and Talgat Ayan, who are currently in jail for organizing
peaceful demonstrations.
The two rights defenders were sentenced in November to
five years in prison for ‘inciting social discord’, ‘disseminating information
known to be false’, and ‘violating the procedure for holding assemblies’.
They were also banned from engaging in public activities
for three years after serving their sentences for their roles in organizing
protests in April and May 2016 to oppose the proposed amendments to
Kazakhstan’s land code.
“Not only the legal process against Mr. Bokayev and Mr.
Ayan raised serious questions about its fairness, but also the charges brought
against them essentially criminalized their rights to peaceful assembly and
free expression of dissenting views,” the experts said.
“The rights defenders, Max and Talgat, should have never
faced prosecution for exercising their rights,” they said.
“Such prosecution, reportedly tainted with procedural and
due process violations, runs counter to Kazakhstan’s international commitments
on human rights, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.”
The experts further called the Kazakh authorities review
the legal proceedings and ensure full compliance with the international and
regional guarantees of the fundamental freedoms of peaceful assembly and
expression.
“Free and peaceful exercise of universally guaranteed
human rights should never be criminalized,” the UN experts concluded.
(*) The experts: Mr. Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur
on the situation of human rights defenders; Mr. Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur
on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and Mr. David
Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression.
ENDS
The UN Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as
the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the
largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights, is the general name
of the independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms of the Human Rights
Council that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in
all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis;
they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are
independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual
capacity. For more information, log on to:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Welcomepage.aspx
UN Human Rights, country page – Kazakhstan:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/KZIndex.aspx
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Mr. Jamshid Gaziyev (jgaziyev@ohchr.org/ +41 22 917 9183).
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