The following is a translation of a Radio Azattyq article, originally published in Kazakh and Russian on February 13, 2024. It is published here with minor additional notes and corrections, as well as links to the relevant victims and sources.
For three years, people have been protesting outside the Chinese consulate in Almaty. They are relatives of those whom Beijing is holding in detention in Xinjiang, an autonomous region of China that is predominantly populated by Muslims, including ethnic Kazakhs. In three years, the consulate representatives have not once engaged in dialogue with the protesters. Still, the mothers and wives of the detainees do not cease in their struggle. What has changed in their lives during this time?
FINES FOR PROTESTS HAVE LED TO FAMILY BREAKDOWNS
68-year-old Qalida Aqythan is among those who have been regularly participating in the protests outside the Chinese consulate in Almaty for the past three years. She has a compelling reason not to stop fighting: three of her children are in Chinese prison.
The two older sons, Satybaldy and Orazzhan, were sentenced to 22 years of imprisonment, while the younger, Ahmetzhan, was sentenced to 10. Chinese authorities typically accuse Muslims of extremism, but Qalida says that her children were imprisoned for performing namaz.
Qalida’s daughters-in-law were also detained, for almost two years, but are now under house arrest. For seven years, Qalida has not even been able to see her grandchildren.
“I went to Astana, stood in front of the Aq Orda, and started shouting,” the woman recounts. “Tokayev himself did not come out, but an assistant came over and said: ‘Madam, please stand up, I will deliver what you’ve said.’ After that, they released my eldest daughter-in-law, who had served a year and 11 months. I don’t know if this is true or not, but they had said that she was sentenced to 15 years.”
She has not given up on trying to get her children back, despite the detentions, arrests, and large fines, imposed for violating the law regarding the procedures for holding peaceful assemblies. As she was unable to pay the fines, the authorities withheld her pension for several months.
“My pension has gone up now,” she says, talking about her income. “It used to be 40 thousand tenge. After I received the birth certificates for four children from China, they added 20 thousand. Moreover, I was engaged in heavy physical labor there, so they added another 10 thousand because of that. Now I receive about 80 thousand tenge.”
Despite this very modest pension – about 170 dollars a month – Qalida Aqythan’s most recent fine amounted to 278 thousand tenge.
“For four to five months, I could barely make ends meet,” she says. “Someone would bring over bread, someone else would bring me meat. I couldn’t afford to buy blood pressure medication.”
The authorities seem to be getting their way, with the arrests and fines having led to fewer people coming out to protest. While a group of 20 would gather in front of the consulate two years ago, today the number of protesters is fewer than 10.
Gulpia Qazybek, another one of the participants of the protests, which have no definite end date, says that the large fines and the inability to pay them have led to the breakup of families.
“Poverty leads to quarrels,” she says.
The activists have lost count of how many times they’ve been detained. In 2022-2023, there were periods when the police took them away daily. Often, this would result in fines, but sometimes would lead to arrests. For example, the activist Baibolat Kunbolat was subjected to administrative detention twice, for 10 and 15 days, and Akikat Kaliolla once, for 15 days.
“We were experiencing financial difficulties,” recounts Gulpia Qazybek, who now sells tea at the Altyn Orda market in Almaty. “The arrest of women was a serious blow. Some families are falling apart because of the protests outside the consulate. You can only continue the fight when there’s someone to support you.”
Gulpia is a doctor by profession, but is unable to find work in her field.
“I’ve translated my diploma into Kazakh twice, sending it to China for verification. On both occasions, they wouldn’t verify it. After that, I was forced to look for other sources of income. What I earn now is only enough to cover living expenses. I need to pay 55 thousand tenge each month to the market, then another 50 thousand tenge for the rent. But at least I’m not starving.”
According to Baibolat Kunbolat, the total amount in fines that the protesters outside the consulate have accumulated has now reached seven million tenge. Some in their group have still not paid them off.
“The protests in front of the consulate not only take up your time but also your money,” he says. “Because on those days, we don’t go to work. We’ve been in really difficult financial situations. Sometimes, there were days when we didn’t have the money to buy bread.”
The punishment for holding a demonstration that has not been approved by the local government is stipulated in the Administrative Code of Kazakhstan, with Article 488 therein stating that anyone who organizes a demonstration violating the procedures for conducting a peaceful assembly is to be fined 50 MCI (one monthly calculation index being equal to 3692 tenge), while anyone who participates in it is to be fined 30 MCI. A repeated violation of the procedures that takes place within a year entails a fine of 50 MCI or an administrative detention, for up to 20 days.
In Kazakhstan, the organization of peaceful assemblies is officially done via notification. In practice, however, the notification requires coordination with local authorities. The organizer must wait for a written response of approval, with the assembly considered illegal otherwise.
As a rule, the local governments do not allow political protests, for various reasons. Furthermore, assemblies are only allowed in areas specifically designated by the authorities. Meanwhile, the citizens demanding justice for their relatives in Xinjiang say that their protests are directed against the Chinese government, with them only expressing their complaints outside the Chinese consulate for this reason. As such, they have not applied to the authorities for permission to hold a demonstration.
WHAT HAVE THE THREE YEARS ACHIEVED?
Gulpia Qazybek’s mother, Anarhan Batyrhan [recte: Anarhan Qanatbek], was sentenced in Xinjiang in 2018 to 15 years of imprisonment “for performing namaz“, while Gulpia, a chief human resources officer in the local administration for XUAR’s Ghulja County, moved to Kazakhstan with her family a year later. Immediately, she took to participating in protests outside the Chinese consulate, demanding the release of her mother. Communications with relatives in China is difficult because of government persecution, but still Gulpia managed to find out that her mother was recently released from prison. The elderly woman is now under house arrest.
“My mother is 73 years old,” Gulpia says. “She was arrested at the age of 68. She spent two years in a temporary detention center, and three years in prison. According to the sentence, she was supposed to serve 15 years. My mother was accused of disrupting public order and performing namaz. When she asked how she disrupted public order, they told her: ‘You prayed in front of teenagers. This had a negative influence on them.’ How did they know that my mother prays? Because we provided this information ourselves. I worked in the local human resources department. From 2013 to 2016, we went from home to home and asked who was religious, who had gone to Kazakhstan, who had wedding ceremonies, who was engaged in what business. We would conduct such a census and then hand it over to the authorities. At that time, we did not know what it would lead to. As it turns out, the Chinese authorities had been making preparations since 2013. I’m not even allowed to look at my mother through a phone screen. She covers her face whenever I call.”
Apart from Gulpia’s mother, several other people have also been released during this period. After 17 years of imprisonment, Raqyzhan Zeinolla was able to reunite with his family and wife, Parida Qabylbek, who was also one of the activists in the protest group. As was Sarsenbek Akbar, the husband of another activist, Gulnar Qosdaulet. Saule Meltai, the wife of another consulate protester, Zhenis Zarhan, was also released from prison [recte: she was released from camp in late 2018, and had been under house arrest since]. That was a month ago. The protesters consider these to be successes, but it is unclear whether these decisions had any real connection to their activism.
Parida Qabylbek and Gulnar Qosdaulet did not want to give interviews to Azattyq. Zhenis Zarhan, whose wife recently returned to the family, also refused to talk to journalists, on the grounds that “the authorities said not to tell anyone anything”, though he did not specify which country’s authorities forbid him from talking to media. Gulpia Qazybek explains this phenomenon as follows:
“I moved to Kazakhstan in 2019. However, I left several relatives behind as hostages, and gave audio and video guarantees, signing my name as well. After leaving the country, I was not supposed to say anything about China. In other words, if I did say something, the person I left behind as a hostage would be arrested. But after my mother was sent to prison, I broke that promise and spoke out against the Chinese authorities.”
THE SILENCE OF THE KAZAKHSTAN AUTHORITIES AND THE VISA-FREE REGIME
The Kazakhstan authorities say that Kazakhs in Xinjiang are citizens of China, and that they cannot directly interfere in these matters. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also stated that some Kazakhs from Xinjiang have arrived in the country through diplomatic channels.
In October of last year, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev made an official visit to China and participated in the “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Forum in Beijing.
After the forum, as reported by Aq Orda, the president went to Urumqi, where he met with the XUAR Communist Party Secretary, Ma Xingrui. He talked about regional cooperation, tourism, and cultural ties.
“Xinjiang has long been famous for its high level of cultural development, with local artistic groups rightfully enjoying international recognition,” Tokayev said. “We support the full development of artistic exchanges and mutual tours, which will undoubtedly contribute to strengthening the bonds of good neighborliness and friendship.”
No mention about the situation of the Kazakh irredenta in Xinjiang was made at the meeting. It is unknown whether Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with local Kazakhs or not.
Erbol Dauletbek, who lives in Germany and is the head of the “Atajurt Volunteers” organization dealing with the problems of Xinjiang Kazakhs, says that the meeting failed to meet Kazakhs’ expectations.
Despite protests from some public representatives, a visa-free regime, with stays for up to 30 days, between Kazakhstan and China came into effect on November 10, 2023. According to the activist Erbol Dauletbek, this change has not helped the families who are separated and cannot contact each other, because “the Chinese government will not let them leave the country”.
The Chinese Consulate in Almaty did not receive the protesters, and did not comment on the situation to Azattyq.
According to information from the UN, the Chinese authorities opened camps in Xinjiang in 2017 and detained one million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslims for their religious views and beliefs. Researchers claim that Beijing has sterilized and performed abortions on women in Xinjiang, as a means to reduce the Muslim population.
Women who left the camps reported that they were raped by guards, while men reported torture. International human rights organizations and Western countries have accused Beijing of committing “genocide” against Muslims in Xinjiang [correction: major organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have not made allegations of “genocide”, using the designation of “crimes against humanity” instead]. The Chinese authorities, referring to the “political re-education camps” as “vocational training centers”, have called their policies in Xinjiang a “fight against extremism”, and have categorically rejected such accusations. Beijing, having denied entry to Xinjiang to representatives of Western countries and the UN, has been trying to use its state media to showcase a “happy life” in Xinjiang.