TALDYQORGHAN, Kazakhstan -- In a trial that could be the latest bellwether for growing Chinese influence in Kazakhstan, 19 activists who organized demonstrations against China's mass internment camps in Xinjiang are expected to be sentenced by a Kazakh court.
In a small courtroom in Taldyqorghan, a town close to Kazakhstan’s southeastern border with China, the activists delivered their final statements on April 9 in closed-door proceedings that have been under way since late January. The court announced that the judge will deliver a verdict on April 14.
“I can't say anything else because the judge has forbidden the participants in the trial from making the facts public,” Oralkhan Aben, who is serving as the public defender for her husband Tursynbek Kabi, one of the defendants, told reporters when she emerged from the courthouse after the session. “I disagree with the charges against my husband.”
The defendants are members or supporters of Naghyz Atazhurt, an unregistered advocacy group that works with families who have relatives missing in Xinjiang. They are charged with "inciting interethnic hatred" in connection with a November 13, 2025, protest that was filmed and posted online.
In those videos, they can be seen burning small Chinese flags and a portrait of Chinese leader Xi Jinping while chanting slogans against Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party, and calling for the release of a naturalized Kazakh citizen from Xinjiang who has been detained in China since July 2025.
The case is widely seen as a gauge of China’s influence in Kazakhstan, after evidence emerged that prosecutors acted following a diplomatic complaint from Beijing. It highlights the tension between domestic activism over Xinjiang -- where more than 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslim minorities have been sent to mass detention camps -- and the government’s strategic relationship with China.
China Puts On The Diplomatic Pressure
The trial has been closed to members of the public and journalists, at the request of one of the defendants.
The case has received international attention and has been monitored by international advocacy groups. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticized the legal basis for the case brought forward by Kazakh prosecutors and called for the release of the demonstrators. US Congressman James McGovern also called for their release in January in a note sent to the Kazakh Embassy in Washington.
Only a select few people involved in the trial were present outside the courthouse. A special police unit was deployed inside the building, with a police bus, an ambulance, and fire trucks stationed outside.
A day before the final statements, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence 18 of the 19 defendants to either five years in prison or five years suspended, Shynkuat Baizhanov, a lawyer for several of the defendants, told RFE/RL. Prison terms were sought for roughly half of those charged, he added.
The provision that includes “inciting interethnic hatred" carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment under Kazakh law.
Court documents reviewed by RFE/RL show that a diplomatic note sent by the Chinese consulate in Almaty to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry served as the basis for investigators to open the criminal case.
The note, obtained by RFE/RL, describes the November 2025 protest as an “open provocation against the dignity of the People’s Republic of China and an insult to the image of the Communist Party of China and China’s leader," and calls for Kazakh authorities "to seriously investigate [the incident.]"
The indictment against the demonstrators says that the protest "negatively impacted the two nations' friendship” and that “the Chinese side has expressed serious concerns regarding the incident. [China's] Consulate General expressed hope that the action will be properly investigated."
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL in January that the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan met with Kazakh officials in November 2025 following the protest and that it was discussed, but did not comment on the contents of the diplomatic note.
