Watchdog

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's official visit to Kazakhstan later this week, many Kazakhs who have been demanding the release of their relatives from camps in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang have found themselves under pressure from authorities.

On September 12, three women who have been demanding that the Kazakh government assist in gaining the release of their relatives were forced from a bus in Almaty that was heading to the southern city of Shymkent.

One of the women, Gulfia Qazybek, told RFE/RL by phone that law enforcement officers did not explain why they were taking her and the other women to the police station, saying simply that it had been ordered by their supervisors.

The two other women forced off the bus with Qazybek were Gauhar Qurmanalieva and Khalida Aqytkhan.

Two days earlier Qurmanalieva told RFE/RL that two activists who had demanded their relatives' release from Chinese custody had been sentenced to 15 days in prison on unspecified charges.

She added that another activist, Nurzat Ermekbai, was held in police custody for four hours on the same day.

Qurmanalieva also said that she and seven other men and women who have staged rallies demanding their relatives' release from Chinese penitentiaries were summoned to the Almaty city administration on September 9.

They were told by a person who identified himself as a representative of the Foreign Ministry that they would face up to 15 days in jail if they appeared in Nur-Sultan, the capital, and staged rallies there on the eve of Xi's visit, which is scheduled for September 14.

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She added that police forcibly took her and her 15-year-old daughter to a police station, warning of "serious repercussions" if she and other activists staged protests in Nur-Sultan during Xi's visit.

"If you travel to the capital, the Chinese government will impose pressure on your relatives there in Xinjiang. They will not only be unable to come to Kazakhstan, but they will never be released from prison," Qurmanalieva said, quoting the officials.

Qurmanalieva said she and other protesters still planned to be in the capital when Xi visits Kazakhstan, the first trip abroad by the Chinese president since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, several men and women held a rally in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, urging Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to raise the issue of their relatives, who they say are being illegally held in custody in Xinjiang, during his talks with Xi.

The United Nations last month issued a report citing "appalling treatment" of the region's indigenous people, including Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other mostly Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic groups, in Xinjiang.

The report by outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet authoritatively cited "arbitrary and discriminatory detention" of Uyghurs and other Muslims and said China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.

China, which tried to block the release of the report, says the camps are necessary to curb terrorism, separatism, and religious radicalism.

Kazakhs are the second-largest indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

MINSK -- Noted Belarusian designer Anatol Lazar has reportedly been detained by police amid an ongoing crackdown.

Human rights activist Alyaksandr Kaputski said that the co-founder of the website Tuzin hitou (A Dozen Hits) and director of Adliha (Thaw) advertisement studio was detained on unspecified charges.

Lazar, whose nickname is Wiecier Mechaniczny, was detained after police searched his home and confiscated his computer and telephone, Kaputski said on September 11.

In January last year, Lazar was briefly arrested along with several book publishers amid a crackdown on protests challenging the official results of the August 2020 presidential poll that named authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka as the winner.

Many in Belarus have faced trials since the disputed presidential election, with authorities brutally suppressing dissent in any form.

On September 12, a court in the western city of Baranavichy handed a parole-like three-year sentence to a disabled activist, Uladzislau Rabich, after finding him guilty of insulting Lukashenka.

Rights activists and opposition politicians say the poll was rigged to extend Lukashenka's rule. Thousands have been detained during countrywide protests and there have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people have died during the crackdown.

Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994, has refused to negotiate with the opposition and many of its leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the police crackdown.