On 13 April, Enbekshikazakh District Court No. 2 in Almaty Region sentenced 19 participants in a demonstration in Almaty Region in November 2025 protesting against Chinese government restrictions on the ethnic Kazakh population in China's north-western Xinjiang Province. Among them was Guldaria Sherizat, who was protesting in particular against her husband's detention there. The Chinese authorities had jailed him in July 2025 for protesting against the jailing in Xinjiang of his nephew for praying.

For unexplained reasons, the trial was held not at Enbekshikazakh District Court No. 2 in Shelek, but at the Specialised Inter-District Criminal Court of Zhetisu Region in Taldykorgan, a four-hour drive away (see below).

Judge Erzhan Baibolov convicted all 19 defendants of "Incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious discord". He sentenced 11 of the 19 to 5 years' imprisonment each. Of these, two women - including Sherizat – had their jail terms postponed because they have underage children. Sherizat's youngest daughter turns 18 in 2027. Sherizat is then due to be jailed. The Judge sentenced the other 8 to restricted freedom. All were also banned from engaging in public and political activities for three years. Any bank accounts they may have are likely to be blocked (see below).

"The trial hearings were very strange," independent journalist Saniya Toiken – who attended hearings – told Forum 18. "Those under house arrest were in one room with their public defenders, those brought from Investigation Prison in another, while we were watching proceedings on a videolink from yet another room". Not all the defendants in pre-trial detention were brought to court for the reading of the verdict (see below).

"The verdict is illegal, and based on invented accusations," their lawyer Shinkuat Baizhanov told Forum 18. "None of them uttered a single word against the Chinese people. They only criticised the actions of the Chinese authorities" (see below).

Yevgeny Zhovtis of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law agrees. "There's no hatred of the Chinese as an ethnic group here," he told Radio Liberty's Kazakh Service on 16 April. "What's being expressed is criticism of another country's government for its treatment of its citizens - a classic example of freedom of expression" (see below).

All 19 convicted will appeal against the sentences to Almaty Regional Court within the allocated 15 days, lawyer Baizhanov added. The written verdict had not been issued as of 16 April (see below).

The Chinese authorities disappeared Sherizat's husband Alimnur Turganbay on 23 July 2025. A Chinese-born ethnic Kazakh, Kazakh citizen and Kazakh resident, he had spoken out about a relative and two others given long jail terms in Xinjiang for praying (see below).

"It's been four months since Alimnur was captured by these Chinese," the subsequent indictment quotes Sherizat as telling fellow-protesters at the November 2025 demonstration. "Since then, these Chinese have not given us any concrete answers. That's why I will not stop my opposition to the Chinese until Alimnur is released." Other protesters also spoke out about Turganbay's case and also raised wider concerns about the Chinese regime's treatment of the ethnic Kazakh minority (see below).

Several of the protesters then burnt three Chinese flags and one portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It appears that Sherizat did not actively take part in holding or lighting the flags or portrait. Uyghur District Police soon arrived (see below).

Sherizat insists the protest was peaceful. "We could not remain silent. Therefore, we were forced to make a direct appeal to the Chinese authorities" (see below).

"All the female participants received administrative fines, while most male participants were detained from 7 to 15 days," the family told Forum 18 (see below).

The day after the demonstration, the Chinese authorities wrote to Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry expressing "deep concern", according to the indictment. "Taking into account the political mutual trust between the two countries, the High Representative asks the Government to pay close attention to it and take appropriate measures based on the results of a thorough investigation" (see below).

The 19 defendants were then charged with "inciting national discord against the Chinese people and insulting the national honour and dignity of citizens, in a premeditated conspiracy with a group of people, using the mass media", according to the indictment seen by Forum 18. The 13 men were put in pre-trial detention, while the six women were put under house arrest (see below).

Uyghur District Police refused to put Forum 18 through on 16 April 2026 to Captain Murager Orazgaziyev, who prepared the indictment. Nor would officers answer any questions about the case or the verdict. Officials at Uyghur District Prosecutor's Office did not answer the phones each time Forum 18 called (see below).

Sherizat's family say the case is a freedom of religion case, as she advocated for her husband who had defended his nephew who had been jailed for exercising freedom of religion or belief in Xinjiang. They say the others did too. "The cases of the other 18 people are also related to freedom of religion or belief," the family insisted to Forum 18 in January (see below).

"The authorities should urgently review these cases and ensure that peaceful civic engagement is not criminalised," the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law and the International Partnership for Human Rights declared in a joint appeal on 14 April.

"It is highly troubling that the criminal charges were initiated following a Chinese diplomatic note calling for 'appropriate measures' in response to the protest," the two human rights groups added. "This raises serious concerns that the Kazakhstani authorities yielded to external influence in criminally prosecuting the activists."

The groups had called in January for the case to be dropped and for the defendants to be freed. They said the criminal case against the 19 "does not comply with international human rights standards protecting freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association".

The regime often jails individuals for exercising freedom of religion or belief. Fr Yakov Vorontsov – a 40-year-old independent Orthodox priest in the southern city of Almaty – is in 2 months' pre-trial detention in the city on drugs charges which he and his supporters say are fabricated. He is trying to register the Independent Community of Orthodox Christians in Honour of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which is not in communion with the Moscow Patriarchate. Justice Department officials rejected the first application in December 2025 and officials will not say whether they accepted or rejected the renewed application lodged in January 2026.

Religious restrictions for Xinjiang's ethnic Kazakhs

In May 2014, the Chinese regime launched what it termed a "Strike Hard" campaign to combat alleged terrorist threats, which it linked to religious "extremism" and separatism in the north-western province of Xinjiang. Many have been imprisoned in "re-education" camps.

The Chinese regime's restrictions on the rights of non-ethnic Chinese in Xinjiang have mainly targeted the Uyghur population. But they also target Xinjiang's 1.5 million strong ethnic Kazakh community, the second-largest Turkic population.

"The 'Strike Hard' campaign has led to the adoption or amendment of various legal instruments to further tighten the regulation of religion," the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted in an August 2022 report. "Religious activities are allowed only in Government-approved locations, conducted by Government-accredited personnel, and on the basis of Government-approved teachings and publications."

The UN report noted the closure and demolition of mosques and the attempts to eradicate many Muslim practices that "in themselves constitute exercise of protected fundamental freedoms connected to the enjoyment of cultural and religious life".

Many ethnic Kazakhs from Xinjiang have migrated in recent decades to Kazakhstan, where they can easily settle and obtain Kazakh citizenship. Many in the community in Kazakhstan have voiced public concern over violations of the rights of ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang. The Kazakh regime has been nervous about these complaints and has tried to suppress them.

Jailed in Xinjiang

The Chinese authorities arrested Serik Dauitbek, a member of Xinjiang's ethnic Kazakh minority and a Muslim, in March 2018. They arrested two other local ethnic Kazakhs at the same time. In June 2018, the three were jailed, apparently for about 17 years each, for praying and reading the Koran, according to human rights defenders. Family members do not appear to have been given copies of any written court decision.

Advocating for his nephew

Alimnur Turganbay (born 15 April 1977), Serik Dauitbek's uncle, is from Yining County in Xinjiang's Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. In August 2016, he moved with his wife and three children from China to Kazakhstan. They obtained Kazakh citizenship in 2017. The family settled in the village of Uzynagash in Jambyl District of Almaty Region. He renounced Chinese citizenship in 2018. Turganbay supported his family as a long-distance lorry driver.

On 24 January 2019, Turganbay filmed an appeal for his jailed nephew and the two other men jailed with him. The Atajurt (Fatherland) group, which campaigns for the rights of China's ethnic Kazakhs, posted the video on YouTube.

Turganbay later felt safe to revisit China for the first time since he left in 2017. On 23 July 2025, working as a lorry driver, he crossed the border to collect building materials to transport to Uzbekistan. Chinese border officials detained him at the Dulata (Dula) border crossing while allowing other Kazakh drivers through. For months Chinese officials gave no information to relatives about why they had detained him or what his subsequent fate was.

"The Chinese side said that a court hearing was held and a sentence of 2 years, 6 months was issued, but we have not seen any written judgment or official document," Turganbay's family told Forum 18 in January 2026. "They also refuse to provide any paper records to our relatives there."

"The Chinese arrested Alimnur because he defended his jailed nephew," Sherizat's lawyer Shinkuat Baizhanov told Forum 18 from Almaty in January 2026.

Advocating for her husband

Immediately after Alimnur Turganbay's July 2025 arrest on the Chinese border, his wife Guldaria Sherizat (born 10 September 1978) began advocating for his release. She was among protesters from the Atajurt organisation outside the Chinese Consulate in the southern city of Almaty. She had visited the consulate many times trying to get information about her husband.

On 13 November 2025, she and 18 other protesters held a demonstration near the village of Kalzhat in Uyghur District of Almaty Region, on the eastern side of the Shonzhi-Kalzhat highway.

"It's been four months since Alimnur was captured by these Chinese," the subsequent indictment quotes Sherizat as telling fellow-protesters. "Since then, these Chinese have not given us any concrete answers. That's why I will not stop my opposition to the Chinese until Alimnur is released. Our opposition is our opposition, because Alimnur is a citizen of Kazakhstan."

Other protesters also spoke out about Turganbay's case and also raised wider concerns about the Chinese regime's treatment of the ethnic Kazakh minority. One protester complained that "the Chinese have imprisoned so many of our innocent brothers in camps, so many people have died, so many people are already suffering in prison, and those who have come out of the camps themselves have lost their health and are now suffering".

Several of the protesters then burnt three Chinese flags and one portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It appears that Sherizat did not actively take part in holding or lighting the flags or portrait.

Arrests, fines, short-term detentions

Police arrived in several cars at the site of the demonstration on 13 November 2025. The duty officer at Uyghur District Police refused to answer any questions in January 2026 about the police action at the demonstration. He told Forum 18 the District Police chief Erlik Urkimbayev was out of the office and no one else could discuss the police action.

On the day of the demonstration, supporters of the demonstration posted videos online. That same day, police "discovered" the video on Atajurt's social media sites and sent it for investigation.

On the evening of 13 November, a local police officer drew up a record of an offence against Sherizat (seen by Forum 18) for "minor hooliganism" (Administrative Code Article 434, Part 1). She was fined 78,640 Tenge (about 2 weeks' average wage).

"All the female participants received administrative fines, while most male participants were detained from 7 to 15 days," the family told Forum 18 in January 2026.

Sherizat insists the protest was peaceful. "We could not remain silent. Therefore, we were forced to make a direct appeal to the Chinese authorities."

Indictment follows Chinese pressure

On 14 November 2025, the Chinese Consulate General in Almaty wrote to Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry representation in the city expressing "deep concern" over the demonstration, according to the indictment. "Taking into account the political mutual trust between the two countries, the High Representative asks the Government to pay close attention to it and take appropriate measures based on the results of a thorough investigation. The High Representative trusts the results of the investigation."

The same day, despite the administrative prosecutions, Uyghur District Police began a criminal case against the 19 protesters, including Guldaria Sherizat.

The case was launched under Criminal Code Article 174, Part 2. This punishes "Incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious discord, insult to the national honour and dignity or religious feelings of citizens, as well as propaganda of exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of citizens on grounds of their religion, class, national, generic or racial identity, committed publicly or with the use of mass media or information and communication networks, as well as by production or distribution of literature or other information media, promoting social, national, clan, racial, or religious discord" when conducted by a group.

Punishments are a jail term of five to ten years, with the possibility of a post-prison ban on certain activities or roles.

Investigators subsequently searched the homes of at least 6 of the protesters, including Sherizat. They also interrogated all 19 protesters.

On 21 November 2025, a court ordered that the 13 male protesters be placed in pre-trial detention. The 6 female protesters – including Sherizat - were placed under house arrest in the following days, according to the subsequent indictment. The 6 women were required to wear electronic tags to monitor their location.

On 3 December 2025, investigators used facial recognition technology on the videos of the demonstration to confirm the identities of the 19 protesters.

On 19 December 2025, Captain Murager Orazgaziyev of Uyghur District Police completed the indictment against the 19 protesters. It claimed that all 19 were guilty of "inciting national discord against the Chinese people and insulting the national honour and dignity of citizens, in a premeditated conspiracy with a group of people, using the mass media".

The indictment (seen by Forum 18) was endorsed by Gabit Turmanov, the Prosecutor of Uyghur District.

Neither Captain Orazgaziyev nor officials at Uyghur District Prosecutor's Office answered the phones each time Forum 18 called in January 2026.

Trial transferred to Taldykorgan with no explanation

Prosecutors handed the criminal case against Guldaria Sherizat and 18 others who took part in the November 2025 demonstration to Enbekshikazakh District Court No. 2, in Shelek in Almaty Region. Judge Erzhan Baibolov was due to begin hearing their case on 23 January 2026, according to court records.

However, days before the trial could start the case was transferred from Shelek to the premises of the Specialised Inter-District Criminal Court of Zhetisu Region in Taldykorgan. This is more than 300 kms and a four-hour road journey from Sherizat's home in Uzynagash.

"Judge Baibolov decided that the trial should take place in Taldykorgan," the Judge's secretary Zhasulan Aitbai told Forum 18 on 20 January. He refused to say why.

All 19 defendants faced charges under Criminal Code Article 174, Part 2. This punishes "Incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious discord, insult to the national honour and dignity or religious feelings of citizens, as well as propaganda of exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of citizens on grounds of their religion, class, national, generic or racial identity, committed publicly or with the use of mass media or information and communication networks, as well as by production or distribution of literature or other information media, promoting social, national, clan, racial, or religious discord" when conducted by a group.

Punishments are a jail term of five to ten years, with the possibility of a post-prison ban on certain activities or roles.

"I consider the case illegal," the lawyer Baizhanov told Forum 18 in January. "Participants were punished first under the Administrative Code, and then they brought a case under the Criminal Code. Under the Constitution, individuals cannot be punished twice for the same thing."

Sherizat's family say the case is a freedom of religion case, as she advocated for her husband who had defended his nephew who had been jailed for exercising freedom of religion or belief in Xinjiang. "The cases of the other 18 people are also related to freedom of religion or belief," the family insists.

Trial, jail and restricted freedom terms, 3-year bans

The trial of the 19 demonstrators – including Guldaria Sherizat – began at the Specialised Inter-District Criminal Court of Zhetisu Region in Taldykorgan on 23 January. Judge Erzhan Baibolov of Enbekshikazakh District Court No. 2 in Almaty Region ordered the hearings closed at the request of one of the defendants. All the others wanted hearings to be open, Radio Liberty's Kazakh Service noted.

Police and masked security personnel – including from the Interior Ministry's Special Rapid Response Unit – were present in and around the Taldykorgan court at trial hearings.

The trial concluded on 13 April with the reading of the verdict. Judge Baibolov convicted all 19 defendants of "Incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious discord" under Criminal Code Article 174, Part 2. He sentenced 11 of the 19 to 5 years' imprisonment each. Of these, two women - including Sherizat – had their jail terms postponed because they have underage children. Sherizat's youngest daughter turns 18 next year. Sherizat is then due to be jailed. The Judge sentenced the other 8 to terms of restricted freedom.

All were also banned from engaging in public and political activities for three years. For those jailed, the three-year ban is due to start when they complete their prison terms, their lawyer Shinkuat Baizhanov explained to Forum 18 from Almaty on 16 April. For those on restricted freedom sentences, the three-year ban starts immediately.

Those convicted on terrorism or extremism related charges are also added to the Financial Monitoring Agency's List of individuals "connected with the financing of terrorism or extremism". They remain on the List for up to 8 years after the prison part of their sentence is completed as they are deemed still to have a criminal record.

Being added to the List means that any bank accounts an individual may have are blocked with no further legal process. Their families often find out about the blocking of accounts only when they go to the bank. Families are allowed to withdraw only small amounts for daily living if they do not have other sources of income.

"The trial hearings were very strange," journalist Saniya Toiken of the independent Toiken Media – who attended hearings – told Forum 18 on 16 April. "Those under house arrest were in one room with their public defenders, those brought from Investigation Prison in another, while we were watching proceedings on a videolink from yet another room." Some of those in pre-trial detention were not even brought to the court for the reading of the verdict.

Toiken's video of scenes in and outside the court after the reading of the verdict shows the distress of those convicted and their relatives. A Prosecutor's Office official in uniform, who identified himself only as Samat, listened in to what those convicted and their relatives were saying about the verdict "as a way to intimidate them", Toiken told Forum 18. "He warned them not to criticise the Chinese or the Kazakh authorities."

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, described the convictions of the 19 as "disturbing". "These convictions should be reviewed in a fair trial," she added on social media on 16 April.

Uyghur District Police refused to put Forum 18 through on 16 April to Captain Murager Orazgaziyev, who prepared the indictment. Nor would officers answer any questions about the case or the verdict and put the phone down. Officials at Uyghur District Prosecutor's Office did not answer the phones each time Forum 18 called the same day.

"The verdict is illegal, and based on invented accusations," lawyer Baizhanov told Forum 18. "None of them uttered a single word against the Chinese people. They only criticised the actions of the Chinese authorities."

Yevgeny Zhovtis of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law agrees. "There's no hatred of the Chinese as an ethnic group here," he told Radio Liberty's Kazakh Service on 16 April. "What's being expressed is criticism of another country's government for its treatment of its citizens - a classic example of freedom of expression."

All 19 convicted will appeal against the sentences to Almaty Regional Court within the allocated 15 days, lawyer Baizhanov added. The written verdict had not been issued as of 16 April.

Terms of 3-year bans unclear

The lawyer Shinkuat Baizhanov told Forum 18 it will only become clear what specifically will be banned for the 19 people convicted once the written verdict is issued. He thought it unlikely they will be banned from attending places of worship.

Soon after a Muslim prisoner was released from prison, an official told the individual verbally that among the post-prison restrictions was a ban on visiting a mosque for Friday prayers. Attending mosque could lead to punishment. "They even told me that giving others the customary congratulations after Friday prayers – saying 'Juma mubarak!' – could also lead to punishment," the former prisoner told Forum 18 in May 2025.

Political prisoner Maks Bokayev was freed from prison on completing his sentence in February 2021. He was banned from taking part in a wide range of public activities, including "membership and participation in the activity of social organisations, including political parties, religious organisations, public movements, professional unions, and self-regulating organisations founded on voluntary membership (participation)".

"They tried to close all loopholes," Bokayev told Forum 18 in May 2022. "They want to exclude me from having any public stage. This includes preventing me from being in any religious organisation".

Bokayev stressed that the restriction on any religious activity remained unclear. "I'm not a religious person – I don't go to mosque and don't recite prayers," he told Forum 18. The regime "wouldn't do anything if I conducted a religious rite in a mosque, but they would take action against me, like anyone else, if I conducted any rite anywhere else". Bokayev remained concerned about the denial of his rights. "Maybe one day I'll have a revelation and will want to attend or build a place of worship. Officially I wouldn't be able to do so."

Bokayev and his former fellow prisoner Talgat Ayanov appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Committee about their jailing, torture and post-prison restrictions. In its decision of 13 March 2026, it found that the regime had violated their rights (CCPR/C/145/D/3250/2018).

The Human Rights Committee also criticised the "prohibition to engage in public activities for three years", adding that the regime "did not demonstrate that the measures selected were least intrusive in nature or proportionate to the interest it sought to protect". It noted "the absence of any explanation as to how the restrictions imposed on [Bokayev and Ayanov] in the exercise of their right to freedom of expression were justified pursuant to the conditions of necessity and proportionality" and ruled that they too represented a violation. (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Kazakhstan

For background information, see Forum 18's Kazakhstan freedom of religion or belief survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

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