Dear customers and readers of Qaznews24! How are you? I hope youre still relaxing and making fun of our news! Theres plenty to laugh about in our country! Kazakh blog writer Temirlan Ensebek wrote in his most current letter from a detention center on Wednesday.See you quickly at the Nauryzbay district court consider this your invite! The trial will be humorous too, I guarantee! he added.Ensebek is the creator of Qaznews24, an Instagram page that publishes satirical articles on current events in Kazakhstan in the design of the American satirical news huge The Onion.The 29-year-old remains in detention on charges of prompting interethnic discord over Qaznews24s January 2024 postresponding to Russian media executive Tina Kandelakis criticism of Kazakh authorities for renaming Russian-named train stations into the Kazakh language.Kazakhstan gradually however undoubtedly continues to supplant the Russian language at the state level, Kandelaki had composed on Telegram.
Under the pretext of securing ones location in history, one can go really far.
It is especially hassle-free to utilize history as a pretext for such suspicious decisions.The statement triggered a public uproar in Kazakhstan, prompting the Foreign Ministry to vow to prohibit her from going into the country.But Qaznews24 was already ahead of officials.Kazakhstani rap artists recorded a tough response to Tina Kandelaki, stated Qaznews24 in a since-deleted Instagram post from Jan.
21, 2024.
The post was accompanied by the viral 2000s rap tune Yo, Orystar (Hey, Russians in Kazakh), which would end up being the basis for charges against Ensebek.Police browsed Ensebeks home in Almaty, Kazakhstans largest city, on Jan.
17 of this year.
He was consequently detained for two months.It is regrettable that Kazakh authorities didnt respond to remarks and dangers coming from a Russian propagandist.
Not one deputy made a declaration [in action to Kandelaki], so Qaznews24 took that concern upon themselves, said Ensebeks lawyer Zhanara Balgabaeva.Temirlan Ensebekmedianet.ngoTina Kandelakiisnt even an ethnic Russian.
She is Georgian.
It is to her that the lyrics of the song Yo, Orystar were resolved to, indicating Temirlan wasnt intending it at ethnic Russians, however at those who spread out the ideology of Russian imperialism, Balgabaeva told The Moscow Times, worrying that her defendant is not a russophobe.His beloved sweetheart Maria is an ethnic Russian, the lawyer noted.Maria Kochneva an activist who is now Ensebeks future husband after he proposed to her throughout a court hearing last month is likewise no stranger to getting in difficulty over the viral song.In July 2024, Kochneva was sentenced to 10 days of arrest for performing Yo, Orystarat a rap fight.
The pretext for her arrest was using profane language in a public place.
Everything was pre-approved by the organizers and everybody was using blasphemies it was a rap battle, after all, Kochneva remembered in a discussion with The Moscow Times.But [the authorities] singled me out and focused only on my performancebecause the video of it was flowing in Russian Z-channels, she included, describing Russian pro-war and pro-Kremlin bloggers.First released around 20 years back, Yo, Orystar is something of folklore in the Kazakh segment of the internet: it was covered lots of times and nobody knows anymore who was the original author of the lyrics, which are essentially a stream of profanities resolved to Russians and Uzbeks.No one in fact listens to this song, neither at celebrations nor privately in their earphones.
No one takes the lyrics seriously, described Kochneva, noting that the decades-old track experienced a popular revival in the middle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an anti-war protest song.It has nothing to do with ethnic Russians its just a response to aggressiveness, added the activist.Kochneva believes that the charges versus her and Ensebek have an obvious Russian connection, considered that the track never produced any negative public feedback in Kazakhstan.I think the Russian authorities pushed ours to make sure that I faced some kind of penalty, Kochneva stated.
The same goes for Temirlan.
Certain people lobby Russias interests [in Kazakhstan], claiming that there is Nazism in Kazakhstan, that Russians are being oppressed here, and so on.
And the authorities cant overlook that.Conquered by the Russian Empire in the 19th century, Kazakhstan was a part of the Soviet Union till it proclaimed independence in 1991.
Yet like other Central Asian states, the huge nation still comes to grips with how or whether to get away the orbit of its all-powerful neighbor.In addition to sharing a 7,800-kilometer land border the worlds second-longest Kazakhstans economy is still securely linked to Russia and the nation is a member of the Kremlin-led CSTO security alliance.When anti-government demonstrations broke out across Kazakhstan in January 2022, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev arranged the deployment of CSTOs military contingent to support the nation a move that analystswarned would even more seal its security reliance on Russia.But when Russias intrusion of Ukraine came, Astana stopped short of backing Moscow and refused to acknowledge the independence of Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.This position turned Kazakhstan into a regular punching bag of Russian propagandists and lower-ranking political leaders, who like Kandelaki consistently voiced dissatisfaction with Astanas Kazakh-oriented language policy and even hinted that the Kremlin could relocate to annex its northern areas in retaliation for growing russophobia.I am 100% convinced that there is a Russian connection in Temirlans case, said Bota Sharipzhan, an activist with the Oyan, Qazaqstan! civil rights motion.
Russian books were utilized in the forensic examination and Temirlan had a few public arguments with the pro-Russian blog writer Anton Budarov.Budarov is the author of Budanbay, a Telegram channel with over 30,000 customers where he discusses events in Kazakhstan and exposes officials and activists who supposedly harbor anti-Russian opinions.Temirlan Ensebek.bureau.kzThe Myrotvorets database, a Ukrainian civic initiative that collects details on people whom its creators think are hazards to Ukrainian statehood, identifies Budarov as an FSB agent.There have already been a number of circumstances when Anton had public arguments with someone over ethnic concerns and our security services acted on his reports relatively quickly, stated Sharipzhan, noting that this trend might be linked to closer cooperation in between the Russian and Kazakh security services since January 2022.
Its likewise important to comprehend that there is no requirement to safeguard ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan from anything, stated Sharipzhan.
Kazakhstan has constantly been home to various ethnic groups, specifically after Koreans, Chechens and others were powerfully deported to our country [by Soviet authorities] Everybody here is utilized to having Koreans, Germans, Russians, Kyrgyz, Tatars or Bashkirs as classmates.
Significant circumstances of interethnic dispute are quite rare in Kazakhstan.Political analyst Dimash Alzhanov stated he believes that the search for a Russian trace in Ensebeks case is merely an effort to shift responsibility onto something distant, powerful and sinister like the Kremlin.The primary factor for his arrest and the ongoing trial is jokes about Kazakhstans political management and the president [Tokayev] himself.
Of course, these jokes often discussed Russia as we unfortunately share the exact same information area, Alzhanov told The Moscow Times.Qaznews24s posts lined up with the wider unfavorable view of the Kremlin among Kazakhstans public, mainly spoofing Tokayevs weak position vis-a-vis Russia, according to Alzhanov.This [trial] is, firstly, about the president and the criticism revealed through these jokes, he added.Whether Russia contributed to it or not, the trial against Ensebek has actually already turned into one of the highest-profile political cases in Kazakhstan in current years.While the preliminary examination and subsequent Prosecutor Generals office inquiry into Ensebeks case were incredibly quick, the trial seemingly stalled as widespread spotlight caught Kazakh authorities off-guard, according to legal representative Balgabaeva.Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and leading Kazakh human rights protectors and activists have gotten in touch with authorities to drop all charges versus the blogger.Two people were sentenced to prolonged detention and two others were fined for staging solo pickets in assistance of Ensebek.Meanwhile, the first court hearing in the blog writers case was moved online an hour before the scheduled time and ended with a choice to move proceedings into a different district of Almaty, further far from the center.If found guilty, Ensebek confront seven years in prison.One of my colleagues compared this case to a hot potato, which everyone is attempting to leave their hands as quickly as possible, Balgabaeva said in a phone interview.
I want to highlight that Temirlans [social networks] page is satirical and that post [about Kandelaki] was in line with its aims and the satirical kind it uses.Satire is not a crime, she said.
It can not be responded to with criminal punishment.