26 June 2026
Also available in Русский
Responding to news that Kazakhstani authorities have detained Batikha Bilashkyzy, whose brother, Serikzhan Bilash, is a human rights defender and the founder of the Atajurt movement, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:
“Batikha Bilashkyzy’s detention on apparently politically motivated and fabricated fraud charges is deeply alarming. She must be released unless she is promptly charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offence and her fair trial rights are respected.”
“Any targeting of Batikha Bilashkyzy solely because of her family ties or peaceful expression of solidarity with Atajurt’s mission would amount to another attempt by the Kazakhstani authorities to intimidate those associated with the Atajurt movement and its work documenting the repression of ethnic Kazakhs and other Turkic minorities in China.
