Reports of Civic Solidarity Platform’s mission to contradict the statements of Astana

Trial of the oil industry workers from Kazakhstani city of Zhanaozen failed to comply with fair trail standards. This is the main conclusion made by the International Monitoring Mission that included international and Kazakhstani experts, who represented the Civic Solidarity Platform. They monitored the entire period of the trial, from March till June, 2012.

The authorities should have proven that the protesting oil workers started the mass riots, and that the reaction by the police was legal and proportionate to the violent actions of the protestors. As this was never proved beyond a reasonable doubt, the authorities are responsible for the use of force, said in the Report (you can read the report HERE).

Besides, Civic Solidarity platform has published and spread preliminary report on the trial of Vladimir Kozlov, Serik Sapargali and Akzhanat Aminov. The key conclusion is the same – the trial did not comply with international fair trial standards.

“The Article of the Kazakhstani criminal code under which Kozlov and Aminov were sentenced (Art. 164, which criminalizes “inciting social, national, family, racial or religious enmity”) violates a series of international standards established in the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”, written in the report. Also, “During the preliminary investigation and the trial, several violations of the right to defence of the accused were noted” and “During the trial, the mission noted repeated violations of the principle of equality of the parties”.

The mission, in contrast to the Kazakh investigators, the prosecution and the court has not found any “evidence to support the calls and preparation for calls and preparation of a violent effort to overthrow the constitutional order”, moreover “It was not proven that defendants Kozlov and Aminov had established a criminal group in order to put into practice their criminal intentions. All actions attributed to the defendants also constitute absolutely legal activities of members of the political opposition in a democratic state. No relationship between the activity of the defendants and the riots on 16 December 2011 in Zhanaozen was proven”.( you can read the report HERE).

Thus, more and more influential international organizations come to completely opposite conclusions that state the Kazakh authorities and in which they are trying to convince the world community. The only thing that has once again confirmed the official Ak-Orda, it’s their ability to call black white and vice versa, but only within a single country. And Zhanaozen will remain for many years as a symbol of the real situation with human rights in Kazakhstan, even if the authorities’ attempts to rename the city to succeed.

Civic Solidarity Platform was established in December 2011 to bring together non-governmental organizations to improve the human rights situation in Europe, Eurasia and the United States and includes about fifty human rights organizations around the world.