Citizens did not forget the crimes perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party against ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang.
by Laila Adilzhan
On July 1, Kazakh human right activists protested in the day of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It was not a day of celebration, they said, but of mourning the victims of the CCP, including the ethnic Kazakhs detained, tortured, and killed in Xinjiang. The police reacted with arrests.
The leader of the independent human rights organization Nagyz Atajurt, Bekzat Maxutkhan, was among those arrested on the morning of July 1. Activist Baibolat Kunbolat was also detained by the police while protesting in front of the Chinese Consulate in Almaty just two days after his release from a previous arrest. The mother of the activist, and several other protesters were also detained.
Bekzat Maxutkhan’s wife reported that her husband was detained by the police. She initially told Bitter Winter Maxutkhan went outside on the morning of July 1 and disappeared. “We were planning to go somewhere. I was wearing my clothes, and he said that he would wait for me outside. When I went out, he wasn’t outside, didn’t answer the phone, and didn’t answer the messages. I waited for an hour, but he didn’t appear. The last time he logged into WhatsApp was at 8 am, just when he went out. I suspect he was detained. But who exactly detained him is unknown. In fact, if he goes somewhere, he always warns me,” said Nurgul Ibrayeva. An hour later, Nurgul Ibrayeva contacted us again, and told us that Bekzat Maxutkhan called and said that he had been detained by the police and was being taken to Alatau Regional Police Department.
“My husband was detained at 9:30. They said that they are taking him to Nauryzbay Regional Police Department, said the activist’s wife. I also want to say the police beat Baibolat and detained him with the use of force, I recorded everything on my phone camera and posted the video on social networks. The police hit me too, but one man intervened. They did not say why they had detained Baibolat, and they did not have a subpoena.”
“Today, the woman explained, is the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. Therefore, the Chinese instructed Kazakhstan not to let protesters go and picket at the Consulate. Activists have been protesting outside the Chinese Consulate for over 140 days. I see no other reason. The 65-years-old mother of Baibolat was also taken from her house and detained.”
Baibolat Kunbolat was originally detained on 21 June and told he should remain in jail for 14 days. Serikzhan Bilash urged everyone to go out and gather at the police station and demand the release of Baibolat. People gathered, and spent the night outside the police station for two days. Volunteers brought them food and blankets. After two days, the court made a decision and the term was reduced to seven days. And now, two days after his release, he was detained again.
In addition, according to Serikzhan Bilash, one of the activists of Nagyz Atajurt, Myrzan Almakhan, and other protesters were also detained at the Chinese consulate on July 1. They were demanding the release of their relatives from the transformation through education camps in Xinjiang. The protest at the Chinese Consulate began in February, and continues daily. Its participants were detained several times, subjected to administrative arrests and fines.
Illegal actions are continuously committed against activists by the police. A police officer recently kicked 70-year-old Khalida Akytkhan on her private parts. But Khalida Akytkhan did not stop her protest. Her three sons, three daughters-in-law, and fourteen grandchildren were “disappeared” in Xinjiang, and she has no information about them.
