Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights considers refusal to parole the convict human rights activist Yevgeniy Zhovtis as an absolutely illegal act, which once again proves political component of this case.
Parole application submitted by Yevgeniy Zhovtis was considered on January 18 by the Commission of correctional institution OV 156/13. Based on results of the Commission meeting the convict human rights activist was refused parole eligibility.
The refusal was based on the petition of the Detachment Commander of the OV 156/13 concerning the parole refusal. The Detachment Commander reasoned his petition by the fact that Y.Zhovtis “has two cancelled penalties, one of which was cancelled yesterday and does not have any countenance/ encouragement; he is not a part of the Law and Order Section due to personal views». Based on this the conclusion was made that Y.Zhovtis «has not mended his ways and is in need of further serving the sentence». In the course of this application consideration not a single positive reference was made with regard to Y.Zhovtis. No comprehensive social-psychological characteristics of the convict Y.Zhovtis has been made on the part of the administration, which does not make it possible to develop criminological record of the convict personality. The Detachment Commander made the focus only on reprimands but not on encouragements.
The Human Rights Bureau is convinced that the aforementioned reasons for parole refusal to Y.Zhovtis are absolutely illegal and manifest broadly biased attitude on the part of the colony administration to the human rights activist. There are no any reasonable explanations of the Commission statement that Yevgeniy Zhovtis «has not mended his ways». The wording itself within the context of the fact that he has been sentenced for a reckless crime or inadvertent crime sounds as common sense ridicule given that it is impossible to mend one’s ways from inadvertency. In this case it could be possible to speak about indiscipline, inclination to offence and non-observation of custodial control and disregard of the colony administration. But even in this case the colony administration can not blame Yevgeniy Zhovtis of anything.
1. At the time of submission of parole application Zhovtis did not have a single violation registered in his record that could be the basis for refusal. Penalties imposed on him before have been completely cancelled by the time of the Parole application submission.
2. Membership in Law and Order Section is not legally binding and by no means can it be used as a precondition for release. Any attempt to use it as an obstacle for parole is illegal and may be considered as manifestation of political component. No other explanations exist.
3. Though
All the legal violations that accompanied court hearings of Zhovtis case and his conviction, special and illegal terms of his stay in the colony give grounds for conclusion that he will not be paroled. Apparently this is related to the pending referendum on prolongation of the office term of the current President of Kazakhstan and the fear of free Zhovtis on the part of the authorities. Being known for his fidelity to principle, his uncompromising stand of the rights and freedoms of people today he is as dangerous as never before for those that are trying to deprive all the people of the
Given this the
considers refusal to parole Yevgeniy Zhovtis as politically motivated and demand that this decision should be immediately reconsidered.
