Authorities in Kazakhstan should immediately drop criminal charges brought against a blogger who operates a satirical Instagram account and release him from pretrial detention, Human Rights Watch said today.
The blogger, Temirlan Ensebek, 29, manages the satirical Instagram account Qaznews24. Police arrested him on January 17, 2025, and searched his home. On January 18, an Almaty court approved his pretrial detention for two months on vague criminal charges of "inciting interethnic discord" in connection with a post he uploaded to the Qaznews24 Instagram account over a year ago.
"Simply put, there is no crime here, only abuse of the criminal law by the authorities" said Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Kazakhstan authorities should waste no time in dropping the unfounded and overbroad criminal "incitement" charge brought against Ensebek and release him from pretrial detention."
The decision says that the case was opened in April 2024 over the January 21, 2024, post: "Kazakhstani rappers recorded a tough response to Tina Kandelaki." The charge carries a maximum 7-year prison sentence.
Kandelaki is a Russian television personality who had made public remarks suggesting the Russian language had supposedly diminished status in Kazakhstan. Following a public outcry, Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry banned her from entering Kazakhstan.
The court decision does not specify what language or actions in the post contain "signs of inciting ethnic hatred." However, there is wide speculation that it is connected to the musical track "Yo, orystar" ("Yo, Russians"), which was playing in the post's background. The police said in a January 21 statement that "the investigation is currently working to establish the authors of the song published by citizen E. on his Instagram channel." The track, from the early 2000s, apparently contains obscenities and insults addressed at Russians and Uzbeks.
This is not the first time authorities have targeted Ensebek with criminal charges in connection with his account. In May 2021, police brought charges of "disseminating knowingly false information" against him for "misinforming the population and misleading citizens" with information published on Qaznews24. The charges were later dropped.
In the January 21 statement, the police denied that Ensebek's recent arrest is related to his satirical publications, saying "the reason is different - he posted material containing clear signs of inciting ethnic hatred, expressed by insulting representatives of an entire ethnic group."
Criminal laws that target speech that incites violence, discrimination, and hostility should address situations in which such violence, discrimination, or hostility is imminent in order to be compatible with human rights law, Human Rights Watch said. Criminal laws should also never be used to address speech that is merely insulting or offensive. While some people may find the lyrics of the track offensive, Ensebek's Instagram post was made over a year ago, and neither incited violence, discrimination, or hostility, far less posed any "imminent" threat of such harm. Other forms of sanction may be used to deter language that may be harmful to targeted groups.
Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have repeatedly said that the government of Kazakhstan should amend the offense of "inciting discord" under article 174 of Kazakhstan's Criminal Code. The groups said the offense is so vague and broad that it can be-and has been-used to criminalize lawful speech and behavior protected by human rights law, in particular the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, and association.
The provision also violates the principle of legality, which requires classifying and describing crimes in precise and unambiguous language so that everyone is aware of what acts and omissions will make them liable and can act in accordance with the law, Human Rights Watch said. The principle of legality is an integral element of the rule of law and international human rights norms to prevent, among other things, arbitrary and illegitimate use of the law.
In the last two weeks, police have detained nearly a dozen activists for protesting Ensebek's detention, including Ruslan Biketov and Asem Zhapisheva, who served 15 days' administrative arrest in Almaty for staging "unsanctioned" single-person protests in support of Ensebek. Eight other activists who held similar protests in Kostanay, Aktobe, Astana, Semey, and Almaty, were initially detained and several of them fined.
"Kazakhstan should uphold the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, drop the criminal charges, and release Ensebek," Rittmann said. "Satire is not a crime, nor is peacefully protesting a blogger's arrest."
