The sister of Serikzhan Bilash, who was forced to leave the country following a court sentence, has been detained in the Almaty region. He was one of the founders of the ‘Atazhurt’ movement, which campaigns against the oppression of ethnic minorities in China.
Batikha Bilash, the sister of human rights defender Serikzhan Bilash, was arrested and taken, along with her husband, to the Konaev police station (Almaty region) after as police and members of special units searched her home on the night of June 26th, confiscating personal belongings in the process, including a broken cell phone and several copies of the Quran. Batikha fainted several times during the search of her home; her brother told the press that she suffers from a congenital malformation of the heart.
Batykha Bilash’s lawyer, Shynquat Baizhanov, has outlined the circumstances of her arrest. She has been accused of fraud in connection with the collection of money involving her brother, Serikzhan Bilash. Around 20 people have made statements against her.
Batikha had participated in several hearings organized by the “Atajurt Kazakhstan Human Rights” movement, a group founded by her brother Serikzhan Bilash — a naturalized Kazakh citizen born in China—to defend Kazakhs and other Turkic ethnic groups persecuted in the Xinjiang region of China. He had denounced the labor camps to which these ethnic groups were sent. He then was exiled in United States.
Serikzhan Bilash stated that his sister was not an activist and that she had completely stopped attending Atajurt meetings after she was summoned to a government agency. According to him, the reason for her arrest is an act of retaliation by the Kazakh government—which has close ties to China—for his own activist work. Kazakhstan is trying to maintain strong ties of cooperation with Beijing.
Batikha Bilash’s detention comes amid the dismantling of Atajurt. In April 2026, 19 activists from the movement were convicted following a peaceful protest calling for the release of a Kazakh citizen detained in China; nine of them received five-year prison sentences on charges of inciting hatred.
Bilash spoke out in support of the activists, warning of the Chinese Communist Party’s “transnational repression” and accusing Kazakhstan of being complicit with the Chinese state….
“Kazakhstan is colluding with China to suppress Atajurt’s activities,” Bilash wrote. “Without Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, the world will lose its greatest force for exposing the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Human rights activist Marie Struthers, director of Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia program, called on the Kazakh government to release the detained activists in a statement:
“Batikha Bilashkyzy’s detention on apparently politically motivated and fabricated fraud charges is deeply alarming. She must be released unless she is promptly charged with an internationally recognized criminal offense and her right to a fair trial is respected.”
“Any targeting of Batikha Bilash solely because of her family ties or peaceful expression of solidarity with Atajurt’s mission would amount to another attempt by the Kazakhstani authorities to intimidate those associated with the Atajurt movement and its work documenting the repression of ethnic Kazakhs and other Turkic minorities in China.
