Two Approaches
Kazakhstan, Politics and Society2 Comments
Translation of Klavdia Razina’s post (RUS).
Read part one here.
Raushan Yesergepova:
I will say right away that the case of Ramazan Yesergepov is an unprecedented and brazen violation of human rights in Kazakhstan. It makes a mockery of expectations that one year prior to assuming chairmanship of the OSCE the government would try to abide by the principles of this prestigious organization.
I thought then, who, if not human rights activists, would actively come to Ramazan’s defense? Unfortunately, especially in the beginning, this did not happen. Ramazan’s outrageous kidnapping while he was at the Cardiological Institute was an equal shock to me as it was to the human rights activists themselves.
At first, only Bareta Yergalieva visited Ramazan in the hospital, trying to contact people whose occupations might enable them to help him.
She was later joined by journalists, who assumed the role of human rights activists. Time does not allow me to list them all, but I would like to express my gratitude to the newspapers “Vremia,” “Svoboda slova,” “Respublika,” “Stan.TV,” “Zhas Alash,” Radio Azattyq, and “Obschestvennaia pozitsia.”
Another one of our great helpers is Rozlana Taukina, a fearless woman who has been working tirelessly for the past year. She cannot say “No” to people. Even now, after undergoing complicated surgery, she calls me on the phone, tries to help and attends various events despite the fact that she has not made a full recovery yet.
Of course, I cannot fail to mention the great help Yevgenii Zhovtis provided. The legal analysis, which shows that documents published in the “Alma-Ata-Info” newspapers do not contain government secrets, is worth a great deal.
Despite his busy schedule, Zhovtis attended the hearing in Taraz to confirm the analysis and speak in Ramzan’s defense. There was never a time in all my interactions with him when he would look unhappy, tired or irritated. He was ready to help at any minute.
As I see, Kazakhstan’s Bureau of Human Rights is actively working to defend Zhovtis himself, yet, unfortunately, they have abandoned the work he was doing to help Ramazan.
When Ramazan’s troubles began, I thought, for some reason, that I should expect help from “Adil soz,” but I cannot say the organization actively defended Ramazan. From time to time, I talk to Tamara Kaleeva, and I have concluded that you cannot defend human rights with such a pessimistic attitude. Whenever you talk to her, she always says “Well, what can we do, we’re working on it…” Still, the situation is not improving.
RSS Feeds
Podcasts
[...] For the previous two posts in the series, click here and here. [...]
[...] relative of Ramazan Yesergepov laments the situation for him and others: I will say right away that the case of Ramazan Yesergepov is an unprecedented and brazen violation [...]