The Week in Kazakhstan: Time Out

On August 2, a court in Konayev, the administrative center of the Almaty region, sentenced journalist and activist Duman Mukhammedkarim to seven years in prison. The prosecution accused him of taking part in a “banned organization” and of “financing extremism.” Mukhammedkarim has been in custody since June last year and said to have suffered pressure and physical attacks from law enforcement.

On August 1, the day in which the sentencing was originally scheduled, police detained two civil activists who had traveled to Konayev to participate in the hearings. Bekzat Maksutkhan will serve a 10-day administrative detention, while Abzal Dostiyar was detained for 20 days, both for violations of the legislation on “peaceful assemblies.”

The government moved on August 2 to dismiss a petition to reverse the decision to unite Kazakhstan’s time zones. The ministries of trade, energy, health, economy, and labor all gave negative opinions towards the public proposal to restore Kazakhstan’s two time zones, which were united by decree from March 1 this year. Journalists were banned from the hall where the public discussion was held and were only able to listen to an online feed.

A controversial petition against the so-called “LGBT propaganda” received a positive opinion from several ministries after the last public discussion in Astana on August 1. The proposal was deemed as “discriminatory and stigmatizing” by several human rights and gender equality activists. Behind the defense of “traditional values” hides a rehearsal for widespread repression, we argued in an editorial.

During an official visit to Astana on August 1, European Union’s High Representative Josep Borrell said ​​that the EU “supports [Kazakhstan’s] path to modernization, where economic and political reforms should go hand in hand.” Borrell met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and foreign minister Murat Nurtleu, but no concrete details emerged from their closed-door meetings.

The Statistics Committee said on August 1 that annual inflation in July was higher than the previous month. Prices in July grew by 8.6% year-on-year, compared to an 8.4% inflation in June. Despite slowing food and non-food prices, the cost of utilities and services has continued to grow, boosting inflation.

Kanat Bozumbayev, deputy Prime Minister and former minister of energy, visited the Mangistau region on August 2 and hinted that the new gas processing plant in Zhanaozen will be completed in 2027, two years after the current deadline. In 2021, Tokayev had instructed the government and the state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas to complete construction of a new plant by 2023, a deadline that was later extended.