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Eight Sentenced On Terrorism Charges In Kazakhstan

ATYRAU, Kazakhstan — Eight men have been convicted on terrorism-related charges in Kazakhstan’s western city of Atyrau on June 5.

Seven of the defendants were sentenced to prison terms between 18 and 23 years.

They were convicted on charges of terrorism, kidnapping, murder, car theft, burglary, and the illegal possession and distribution of weapons.

The eighth defendant was found guilty of not reporting the group’s existence to police.

He received a one-year suspended jail term.

The suspects’ trial began last month.

They were arrested in Atyrau between December 2012 and January 2013.

Judge Gulnar Kazhenova said the group planned to travel to Syria to fight alongside antigovernment forces.

Cities and towns in western Kazakhstan have made headlines in recent months following security operations in the region targeting Islamic radicals

With reporting by Interfax

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

In Kazakhstan, Spending Saturday Night In The Gulag

A Kazakh museum documenting political oppression during the Soviet era opened its doors to visitors for a nighttime tour.

The unusual visit on the night of May 18 was organized by the Museum of Political Oppression in Dolinka.

The central town became infamous in the 1930s as the center of the Qaragandy Corrective Labor Camps system (KarLAG).

Some 1,000 visitors took part in the tour, dubbed “Night in KarLAG.”

The guide took the group to the prison hospital, cells, a torture chamber, and the KarLAG head’s office.

“This is the office of the head of the KarLAG prison camp [system]. There were 11 camp heads,” the guide said. “Otto Bin was the first head of KarLAG. When he was the chief here, the authorities allowed families to be together. That was the only time when men and women could live and work together in the KarLAG camp.”

Overnight Plans Scrapped

In the room, actors performed a mock interrogation scene in which a young woman is pressured to denounce her father.

The group also witnessed performances that included an inmate who was hanging by his hands while being mistreated by a guard.

To have a better taste of being a prisoner at KarLAG, the visitors were also offered gulag-type meals.

The museum initially planned to offer visitors the chance to become “Stalin-era prisoners” for one night, but museum director Svetlana Bainova told RFE/RL the plan was scrapped following a request by local officials.

She said the officials argued that such an experience could scare or even psychologically traumatize the participants.

The Museum of Political Oppression occupies the building that served as KarLAG headquarters. It was formally opened in May 2011.

The KarLAG prison camp system was set up during the purges in the 1930s launched by Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the Soviet Union were sent there through the 1950s.

Written by Antoine Blua in Prague based on reporting by Yelena Weber of RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service

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European Parliament Criticizes Kazakhstan

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution “strongly” criticizing Kazakhstan for failure to respect political, media, and religious freedoms.

A posting on the parliament’s website on April 18 cited the body’s concerns about a Kazakh court’s decision to ban some opposition parties, including the unregistered Algha! (Forward) party.

The resolution called for the release of Algha! leader Vladimir Kozlov, who is in prison after being convicted of inciting social unrest.

The resolution expressed concern about the detention of opposition leaders, journalists, and lawyers following trials “which fall short of international standards.”

The European Parliament also urged Kazakh authorities to ease restrictions on independent labor unions and the ability of religious groups to register and to practice their beliefs

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Kazakhstan: World Bank To Finance Road To China

The World Bank has announced it is loaning Kazakhstan more than $ 1 billion to build a road to China. 

The agreement was signed by officials from the World Bank and Kazakhstan in Astana on October 11. 

When completed, the highway will stretch some 300 kilometers and link Almaty to Khorgos. 

The World Bank says that artery serves as a transit route not only for Kazakhstan and China but other Central Asian nations as well. 

The World Bank says the project has the potential to boost regional trade. 

The highway is an integral piece of the international motor corridor “Western Europe – Western China,” a big part of which transits Kazakhstan. 

The estimated date of completion of the highway is 2015.

Based on Itar-tass and Interfax reporting

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Four Alleged Terrorists Killed In Kazakhstan

Security forces and police have killed four suspected terrorists in a special operation near Kazakhstan’s western city of Atyrau, officials say.

The Kazakh prosecutor’s office says the four might have been involved in an attack against police in Atyrau last week.

According to the officials, the four refused to surrender and opened fire at police and security forces.

Guns, ammunition, and components of explosive devices were found in the house where the four suspects were hiding.

The antiterrorist operation follows an explosion and a gun battle near a police station in Atyrau last week.

Two policemen were injured in the incident then.

That attack took place after five alleged terrorists were killed by security troops in a nearby town of Kulsary on September 12.

Based on reporting by KazTAG and Aq Zhaiyq 

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Soyuz Lands With Russian, U.S. Crew In Kazakhstan

A Russian Soyuz capsule with three crew members aboard — two Americans and a Russia — has safely landed in central Kazakhstan after 123 days at the International Space Station (ISS).

The Soyuz craft remains the only means for international astronauts to reach the space station since the decommissioning of the U.S. Shuttle fleet in 2011.

Moscow hoped the smooth landing will help to ease concerns over relying solely on Russia to service the space station following a string of recent mishaps in its space program.

Three crew members remain on the ISS.

They will be joined by another trio due to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan next month.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

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Overnight Blast Targets Interior Ministry In West Kazakhstan

An overnight explosion and gun battle near a police station in tense western Kazakhstan has left at least two policemen injured, according to reports cited by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service.

The incident comes days after a deadly operation in the same province to round up alleged terrorists thought to be responsible for a bombing near a mosque about a week ago.

The latest blast occurred shortly after midnight on September 15 in the courtyard of local Interior Ministry offices in the provincial capital, Atyrau.

Witnesses were quoted as saying an exchange of gunfire followed the explosion.

Authorities cordoned off the area and were searching passing cars in an effort to find those responsible.

There was no official word on whether any suspects had been apprehended.

RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service quoted a state television station saying “several” police officers had been wounded in the initial explosion.

It marks the third violent incident in the Atyrau region this month.

One person was killed when an explosive device detonated in a private apartment near a mosque on September 5.

A week later, on September 12, security forces reported killing five alleged terrorists and seriously wounding another in a raid on an apartment building with a suspected connection to that explosion.

Police inspect a car near the scene of the September 15 incident.

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Western Kazakhstan has seen a number of bloody incidents as tensions have mounted over labor disputes and other social frictions in the past 18 months or so.

The first suicide bombing in Kazakh memory was reported in May 2011 in the western city of Aqtobe, injuring three people.

Less than six months later, bombers targeted a regional prosecutor’s office in downtown Atyrau.

International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently accused the government in Astana and several oil firms of systematic violations of the rights of thousands of oil workers in the west of the country. HRW charged in a September 10 report that extended protests in 2011, which resulted in the killing of at least 16 workers by police and thousands of layoffs, highlighted a broader issue of “disregard for workers’ rights and other human rights.”

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Four Killed In Helicopter Crash Near Kazakhstan

Kazakh officials say four people have been killed in the crash of a Soviet-era Mi-17 military helicopter near the capital Astana.

Officials said the helicopter went down on August 22 during what was described as a training flight.

Unconfirmed reports said that one of those killed was a top official of the Kazakh president’s security service.

An interdepartmental commission has been set up to investigate the crash.

The former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan still relies on outdated and often poorly maintained aircraft built during the communist era.

Based on AP and ITAR-TASS and Interfax

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Group Of Islamists Sentenced In Kazakhstan

Officials say a court in the Qostanai region in Kazakhstan’s north has sentenced a group of radical Islamists to prison terms of between three and six years.

Officials said the court in the regional capital, Qostanai, found the alleged leader and three members of the group guilty on August 10 of forming and leading an organized criminal group, fraud, forging documents for border crossing, as well as illegal recruiting and sending Kazakh nationals to Afghanistan and Pakistan to take part “in combat actions.”

The group went on trial on July 9.

Based on reporting by Ng.kz and Interfax

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Eight Jailed On Terrorism Charges In Troubled West Kazakhstan

ORAL, Kazakhstan — A court in Kazakhstan’s western city of Oral has sentenced eight local men for organizing and participating in a terrorist organization.

The eight men were sentenced to prison terms varying between six and nine years.

The defendants were found guilty of “propagating terrorism with the goal to overthrow the country’s constitutional structure.”

The trial follows a number of incidents in Kazakhstan’s western regions in recent months involving alleged religious extremists.

In May 2011, a resident of the northwestern city of Aqtobe carried out what was described as the first-ever suicide bombing in Kazakhstan, blowing himself up in the entrance to the National Security Committee’s local branch and injuring three men.

Investigators said the bomber was a member of an extremist Islamic group.

With reporting by ‘Uralskaya nedelya’

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Kazakhstan, Russia Plan Joint Air-Defense System

ASTANA — A high-ranking Kazakh military official says Kazakhstan and Russia are expected sign an agreement to create a joint regional air-defense system.

Kazakh air defense chief Nurzhan Mukanov told reporters on July 11 that the agreement will be signed next year.

Russian military officials have said that under the plan, the Kazakh air force would be responsible for defending Russian airspace along the border with Kazakhstan.

Officials of both states have confirmed that the creation of the joint air-defense system envisages deliveries of Russian S-300 air-defense systems to Kazakhstan.

Russia already has similar agreements with Armenia and Belarus.

Based on reporting by Interfax, RIA Novosti, and RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Central Asia’s Largest Mosque Opens In Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has unveiled a new mosque in its capital, Astana, that is the biggest Muslim worship facility in Central Asia.

President Nursultan Nazarbaev attended the July 6 unveiling of the Khazret Sultan Mosque, timed to coincide with the 14th anniversary of the city’s foundation.

July 6 is also Nazarbaev’s 72nd birthday.

The gleaming white structure took less than two years to build and is large enough to accommodate 5,000 worshipers.

Around 70 percent of Kazakhstan’s 16 million people are Muslim. Most are followers of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam.

One worker died when a fire broke out during the construction of the mosque, about six months ago.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

In Kazakhstan, Young Filmmakers Create Heroes Even Nazarbaev Would Be Proud Of

Disunity threatens to tear the country apart. Bad guys with guns mar the glittering streets of Astana. Kazakhstan needs a hero – and even authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who holds near-omnipotent “leader of the nation” status, just won’t cut it.

A group of young filmmakers and animators appear to have saved the day, however, creating their own heroes, specially tailored to the nation’s needs.

They are the winners of the inaugural Youth Art Fest, a part of famed Kazakh filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov’s Astana International Action Film Festival, which concluded on July 3. The competition called on more than 100 young filmmakers across Asia to harness their creativity and create an original hero to “become the symbol of the young, energetic, vibrant capital of Kazakhstan.”

This competition’s theme appears to have been chosen with an eye toward this December, when the city will mark its fifteenth anniversary as the seat of government. Nazarbaev moved the capital to Astana from Almaty in 1997, and an oil money-fueled building boom ensued.

Vladimir Sim, the Kazakh director of the winning live action short film, told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service that he just couldn’t imagine Spiderman scaling Bayterek, Astana’s answer to the Eiffel Tower.

“If Spiderman were jumping around Bayterek, it wouldn’t really resonate with our Kazakh people,” he said.

“So I decided to fantasize a bit and decided that maybe someone from the past could come back in the future, and that was Abulkhair.”

Indeed, Sim didn’t create a hero from scratch, but refurbished an old one, giving Abulkhair, a medieval Kazakh khan, the magic powers needed to overcome evil.

As the film opens, Abulkhair is magically transported to present-day Astana, where he marvels at the modern, imposing cityscape — apparently the height of Kazakh cultural development. He then travels back and forth in time, using his mental abilities to make guns gravitate toward him, all to ensure that Astana is safeguarded.

While other artists made their mark in the comic and costume divisions, one highlight of the animated short film contest was an entry produced by Atay Sadybakasov, the son of former Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva.

The anime-like film, titled “Super Hero,” finished in third place behind Chinese and South Korean submissions.

It begins in a high-tech security center, where officials receive word of a robbery in progress. A typical chase scene follows, with the police outfoxed by the criminals’ booby traps and slick driving skills. But when all seems lost, a shadow passes overhead.

A muscular man of Central Asian appearance, wearing a blue, black, and gold skin-tight suit, lands on one of the bad guy’s cars, crushing it under his weight.

His belt, not-so-coincidentally, is in the shape of the Kazakh national ornamental pattern found on the country’s flag. Giant golden wings protrude from his back – a reference to the golden wings of the steppe eagle, also on the flag, or perhaps the golden wings of the mythical horses on the Kazakh national emblem.

After subduing his enemies, the mysterious hero disappears back into the sky.

Cut to the Ak Orda Presidential Palace, where a gray-haired figure sits with the back of his head toward us. An aide, not wanting to disturb the important meeting underway, whispers a message into his ear. The gray-haired man nods in understanding.

Nazarbaev, it appears, is Astana’s true caretaker. It is he who summons the hero when needed.

Along with the jury, the president himself surely would have approved.

with contribution by RFE/RL correspondent Richard Solash

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Soyuz Spacecraft Lands Safely In Kazakhstan

A Soyuz space capsule carrying a three-man multinational crew has landed in the southern steppes of Kazakhstan, bringing an end to their 193-day mission to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz spacecraft brought back Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, and U.S. astronaut Don Pettit.

Russians Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and American Joseph Acaba are expected to remain onboard the orbiting space station for a further three months.

Based on reporting by AP, Interfax, and ITAR-TASS

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UN Committee Condemns Kazakhstan For Extraditing Uzbeks

The UN Committee Against Torture says Kazakhstan violated its international commitments by sending 29 Uzbek asylum-seekers back despite fears they would be jailed and tortured.

Kazakh authorities said the 29 men, two of whom were Tajik nationals, were members of a terrorist group and fulfilled Uzbekistan’s request to send them back to Uzbekistan.

Most were sentenced and jailed on charges of being members of a terrorist group after their return.

The UN had previously reported that cruel and inhuman treatment by police and investigative officials was “systemic” in Uzbekistan.

The committee demanded Kazakhstan pay compensation to the 29 men and seek to have them returned to Kazakhstan.

Based on reporting by AP and Ferghana.ru

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Cultural Learnings Of Kazakhstan Make Benefit Tony Blair

Whoever said that money can’t buy you love obviously wasn’t the long-time autocratic ruler of a country with the world’s 11th-largest oil reserves and global top-10 reserves of uranium, zinc, copper, coal, iron, and gold. If you are in that enviable position, like, say, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev is, then getting high-profile world figures to sing your praises appears to be no problem.

Take this 67-minute video uploaded to YouTube that ostensibly promotes the resource-rich Central Asian country but actually serves as an unrelenting paean to Nazarbaev. As of this writing, some 240 people have viewed the piece — which features generous excerpts from Nazarbaev’s speeches and numerous photos of Nazarbaev in the embrace of ex-world leaders, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Italian Prime Minister and European Commission President Romano Prodi, and former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Blair, whose consulting firm Tony Blair Associates reportedly signed a $ 13 million deal with Kazakhstan in 2011, compares Nazarbaev’s Kazakhstan with longtime Singaporean ruler Lee Kuan Yew.

“I think, rather like, the leadership in a country like Singapore, they actually just decided they were going to take the country, move it forward, and they did it,” Blair says. “And that’s, you know, for all the challenges that are still there to come — and I think those are very clear and obvious…”

In an interview with Britain’s “The Telegraph,” a spokesman for Blair says that in the interview he did for the video, he “made it clear that there had to be political reform including on human rights.” That part was not featured.

The video ends with a scrolling roll call of some of Kazakhstan’s achievements in its 20 years of independence: in the global top 20 in terms of foreign investment; in 2011, it was one of the top three fastest-growing economies in the world; gross domestic product has increased by 16 times since 1993, more than 40,000 kilometers of highways have been built; and so on.

But some statistics were not mentioned: Freedom House ranks Kazakhstan 172 out of 196 countries in terms of press freedom; Reporters Without Borders ranks it 162th of 178 countries; Transparency International ranks Kazakhstan 120th of 183 countries in its 2011 Corruptions Perceptions Index; the Economist Intelligence Unit ranks it 137th of 167 countries in its 2011 Democracy Index.

– Robert Coalson

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Kazakhstan Changes Tune, Credits ‘Borat’ For Tourism Turnaround

After years of bitterness, bans, and musical chaos, Kazakhstan has come to embrace its most unsavory “export.”

Kazakh Foreign Minister Erzhan Qazykhanov on Monday credited Sacha Baron Cohen’s taboo-smashing 2006 film “Borat” for helping increase international tourism to his country.

Interfax and Tengrinews.kz quoted Qazykhanov as saying that visas for foreigners to visit Kazakhstan have increased tenfold since the Hollywood film was released six years ago.

Particularly given the tenuousness of any cause-effect argument, it’s a remarkable turnaround by Astana. The film — in which a fictitious goofball TV reporter hailing from Kazakhstan and visiting America offends in just about every way you can imagine — was prohibited from Kazakh cinemas.

Local filmmakers even threatened a rebuttal to Cohen’s sendup, which was officially titled “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

The film returned to international headlines last month when officials at a Kuwaiti shooting tournament played “Borat’s” mock anthem instead of the Kazakh national anthem to honor a gold-medal athlete.

If you can’t beat ‘em, co–opt ‘em.

But one wonders whether they’d ever be as forgiving if Cohen’s latest character, “The Dictator,” were from, say, Shamalgan.

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Riot Trial Starts in Kazakhstan

Thirty seven people accused of rioting in a Kazakh oil town go on trial on Tuesday. 

At least 14 people were killed in clashes on Dec. 16 in the remote town of Zhanaozen. 

Police say they were forced to open fire after being attacked by some protesters. 

The violence followed a months-long protest by oil workers fired after going on strike.

Kazakhstan is under pressure from the West and human rights groups to hold a transparent and fair trial. 

The country’s Supreme Court said it moved the trial to Aktua, some 145 kilometers west of Zhanaozen, for greater security and transparency. 

Some Kazakhs say the government’s failure to address the labor dispute is partially to blame for the unrest.

Based on Reuters reporting

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Mass Terrorism Trial Begins In Kazakhstan

The trial of 47 men charged with terrorism has begun in the western Kazakh city of Atyrau.

The suspects, aged between 21 and 32, are charged with creating a terrorist group and preparing or carrying out explosions in the city of Atyrau and other towns in the region.

It is not clear how many of the 47 suspects have been detained by the authorities, and officials have said some of them are being tried in absentia.

The trial is not open to the public.

The suspects were arrested after two explosions in Atyrau in October 2011.

One suspected suicide bomber was killed.

A group called Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate), a “brigade” of Islamist fighters based on the Afghan-Pakistani border, claimed credit for the bombings in a statement released on jihadist forums.

With Kazinform  and RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reporting

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

EU Lawmakers Criticize Russia, Kazakhstan

BRUSSELS — EU lawmakers have adopted a resolution in which they “strongly criticize the shortcomings and irregularities in the preparation and conduct” of the Russian presidential election earlier this month.

The resolution, adopted by all major political groups in the European Parliament on March 15, says the voters’ choice was “limited” and calls for “a comprehensive and transparent analysis of all irregularities with a view to strengthening democratic rules for future elections.”

The text is also calling on the Russian authorities and political parties represented in the State Duma “to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the pro-democracy protestors and opposition.”

It also encourages President-elect Vladimir Putin to “tone down his rhetoric against the protestors and engage with them in a sincere dialogue on the future of the country.”

Deep Concern Over Kazakhstan

Another resolution adopted by EU lawmakers on March 15 expresses deep concern about events in the Zhanaozen district of Kazakhstan last December in which at least 16 people were shot dead by police.

The text condemns the violent crackdown by police against protesters demonstrating against unpaid money for oil workers and calls for an independent investigation into the events with an international component.

The resolution also calls on Kazakh authorities to provide assurances regarding the safety of the families of arrested activists.

It says the EU’s diplomatic corps, the External Action Service, should monitor the trial of those accused of organizing the demonstrations.

The lawmakers also said that negotiations on an updated agreement spelling out closer economic ties between the EU and Kazakhstan “must depend on progress of political reform.”

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Kazakhstan To Tap Shale Gas Potential

At a government session on March 13, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Masimov ordered geological exploration to seek deposits of shale gas in the country as soon as possible.

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and New Technologies Aset Isekeshev told the session his Ministry was already considering use of shale gas as an energy supply for the country.

Isekeshev noted shale gas “is a promising innovation that is developing in the U.S.” and added Kazakhstan would “study these technologies to see what effect they can have on the development of the Kazakh energy industry.”

But Isekeshev was cautious, predicting coal would remain the primary source of fuel for the country’s main power stations until at least 2030 due to the large coal reserves in Kazakhstan.

Isekeshev said Kazakhstan would be using some 150 million tons of coal per year until then to keep power stations working.

With ITAR-TASS and Kazinform reporting

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47 Charged With Terrorism In West Kazakhstan

By RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service

March 02, 2012

ATYRAU, — Forty-seven people charged with terrorism are expected to face trial in Kazakhstan’s western city of Atyrau.

Prosecutor-general official Lazzat Nurmaghambetova told journalists in Atyrau on March 2 that the suspects, all men, have been charged with creating a terrorist group and preparing or carrying out explosions in the city.

Nurmaghambetova said investigations of the suspects have been completed, and that criminal cases have been compiled ahead of expected trials.

Two explosions hit Atyrau last October, and one suspected suicide bomber was killed.

A group called Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate), a “brigade” of Islamist fighters based on the Afghan-Pakistan border, claimed credit for the Atyrau bombings in a statement released on jihadist forums.

The suspects now facing trial were arrested after the bombings.

Nazarbaev Slams OSCE

Elsewhere in Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbaev has come out with harsh criticism of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) — just 14 months after Kazakhstan finished serving as the chair of the international body.

Speaking to representatives of foreign missions in Astana on March 2, Nazarbaev said his government might not invite OSCE observers to monitor future Kazakh elections.

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Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev

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The president denounced OSCE election monitors, saying foreign observers from the group are often “one-sided and turn into a tool” through which Kazakhstan is pressured by other countries.

No particular countries were mentioned. Nazarbaev also said that “none of Kazakhstan’s recommendations has ever been implemented by the OSCE.”

OSCE observers had said that parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan in January failed to meet basic democratic standards.

Kazakhstan, under Nazarbaev’s government, chaired the OSCE in 2010.

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