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Neitbay Urazbayev, a frontrunner among the many Karakalpak diaspora in Kazakhstan, died in an Almaty hospital this week on the age of 54 after struggling a coronary heart assault, in line with reviews from fellow activists. His loss of life marks a sudden finish to a very troublesome interval of strain that noticed him tried and convicted in absentia by Uzbekistan, and then stripped of his Kazakh citizenship, opening wider the door to a much-feared risk that he’d be returned to Uzbekistan by drive, both deported or kidnapped.
Karakalpakstan, usually described as an autonomous area inside Uzbekistan, is in truth a republic unto itself. Uzbekistan’s structure (Articles 85-90 within the present model) refers to Karakalpakstan as “sovereign” and states, clearly, that the republic has the precise to secede from Uzbekistan through referendum. No such referendum has ever taken place, although Karakalpak activists, like Urazbayev, have lengthy pushed for it.
In the summertime of 2022, Uzbek authorities launched a primary draft of a constitutional referendum that, amongst different issues, eliminated Karakalpakstan’s proper to secession. Protests erupted in Nukus, Karakalpakstan’s capital.
Urazbayev had moved to Kazakhstan in 2004 from Karakalpakstan, underneath strain for his human rights work. He later based the Karakalpak ethno-cultural heart “Allayar Zholy” in Mangystau, the place he settled. In 2017, he acquired Kazakh citizenship.
When the protests broke out in July 2022, Urazbayev posted a video assertion supporting the protesters.
Though Tashkent backtracked swiftly and left the constitutional provisions regarding Karakalpakstan intact, Uzbek authorities prosecuted a complete of 61 individuals on a wide range of fees associated to the unrest, most notably “undermining the constitutional order.” The authorities additionally tried two extra individuals in absentia: Urazbayev and a fellow exile Karakalpak activist, Aman Sagidullayev. The 2 males had been satisfied on a wide range of fees starting from insulting the president of Uzbekistan to conspiracy to overthrow the constitutional order and organizing riots.
Sagidullayev was sentenced to 18 years in jail and Urazbayev to 12 years. The previous lives in Norway, the place he and his household have political asylum. Dwelling so near Uzbekistan in Kazakhstan, Urazbayev informed The Diplomat in Could 2023, “I’m apprehensive I could also be secretly despatched to Uzbekistan. The Uzbekistan border may be very near the place I dwell.”
Fellow Kazakhstan-based Karakalpak activist Aqylbek Muratbai informed RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service that Urazbayev had left Mangystau in latest months to stick with his daughter in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest metropolis, fearing for his security. And Urazbayev had motive to fret.
In December the Kazakhstan Worldwide Bureau for Human Rights (KIBHR), citing Vitaly Ponomarev, director of the Central Asian program of Human Rights Centre (HRC) Memorial, reported that Urazbayev had acquired a discover that his Kazakh citizenship had been annulled — with Kazakh authorities claiming that Urazbayev had introduced an “invalid and counterfeit” certificates in 2017 as proof of his renunciation of his Uzbek citizenship. Neither Kazakhstan nor Uzbekistan acknowledges twin citizenship. So as to acquire Kazakh citizenship, a person has to formally resign their earlier citizenship.
In a December 19 put up on X, previously Twitter, Muratbai had outlined Urazbayev’s case, noting that Uzbek authorities had threatened to make use of the citizenship challenge — suggesting his Uzbek citizenship is likely to be miraculously restored and issues created for him in Kazakhstan — and had adopted by way of on the menace.
“The threats voiced by an Uzbek diplomat in 2019 had been fulfilled and now the danger of Urazbayev’s extradition to Uzbekistan on a politically motivated case has sharply elevated,” Muratbai wrote. He went on argue that Urazbayev’ case was a “clear sign and menace to all ethnic Karakalpaks overseas, most of whom are former residents of Uzbekistan.” He additionally argued, passionately, that the efforts of the Uzbek authorities “don’t remedy issues, however inflame tensions” as an alternative.
Muratbai went on to clarify his personal private journey from an apolitical activist, working with Karakalpak labor migrants and on cultural occasions, to an outspoken member of the Karakalpak diaspora. The arrest of Koshkarbai Toremuratov, a pal who was later launched after a yr in jail, triggered Muratbai’s transformation.
In the end, of their makes an attempt to repress one fighter for the rights of Karakalpaks, the Uzbek authorities have already acquired a minimum of two within the peron of me and Koshkarbai Toremuratov. Due to this fact, it is extremely doubtless and even apparent that additional persecution of the above-mentioned Neitbay Urazbayev and different civil activists will solely result in the exacerbation of the state of affairs in Karakalpakstan and to the strengthening of the Karakalpak nationwide motion. Those that have been silent will begin talking anonymously. Those that have already spoken anonymously will begin to act overtly. Those that have been talking overtly will, in the perfect case, begin to take action louder and extra usually, and within the worst case (which is already being noticed) will lastly get uninterested in ready for dialogue with the Mirziyoyev regime in Uzbekistan and can begin to name for extra radical actions within the wrestle for the independence of Karakalpakstan. In the long run, will this deliver peace and tranquility in relations between Uzbeks and Karakalpaks? Unlikely.
“Among the finest of our individuals has left — and this additional complicates relations between the Karakalpaks and the Uzbek authorities,” Muratbai informed The Diplomat, stating that the ultimate paragraph of his December 19 put up is what he most wished to convey within the wake of Urazbayev’s loss of life.
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