A court in Kazakhstan has convicted 19 activists for protesting against Beijing's crackdown in China's Xinjiang region last year, in what experts describe as the largest move yet by the Kazakh government to silence criticism at China's behest. The activists, all Kazakh nationals, burned Chinese flags and portraits of President Xi Jinping near the border in November, calling for the release of a Kazakh citizen detained in Xinjiang.
Eleven activists received five-year prison sentences for 'inciting discord', while eight others were given restrictions on their movement. Lawyer Shinquat Baizhan confirmed the sentences, which were reported in local media. Advocacy groups say this is the first time such a large group of Xinjiang activists has been imprisoned in Kazakhstan.
Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, called the sentencing 'unprecedented', stating it signals that Kazakhstan is willing to sacrifice freedom of its people to maintain good relations with Beijing. The Kazakh government opened criminal investigations after receiving a diplomatic note from the Chinese consulate in Almaty, which described the protest as 'an open provocation against the national dignity of the People's Republic of China'.
The protesters were members of Atajurt, an organisation advocating for Chinese-born Kazakhs facing repression in Xinjiang. Atajurt's founder, Serikzhan Bilash, who lives in exile in the US, said the arrests will have widespread ramifications, silencing a key window into the humanitarian disaster in Xinjiang. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the sentencing an 'internal affair' and praised Kazakhstan as a 'friendly neighbour'.
