Kazakhstan: Seven Years In Prison For Sharing An Offensive Song? – OpEd
By IPHR
The arrest of a satirical blogger in Kazakhstan raises serious concerns about the misuse of vague criminal provisions to stifle free expression and punish government critics.
On 17 January 2025, Temirlan Yensebek, a Kazakhstani blogger who runs the satirical Instagram channel Qaznews24, was detained following a search of his Almaty home. He was charged with inciting interethnic discord under a broadly worded Criminal Code provision (Article 174), and a local court sanctioned his pre-trial detention for two months. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.
The Almaty police department later stated that Yensebek had posted material containing “clear signs of incitement to interethnic discord,” allegedly insulting an ethnic group. While officials have not specified which of his posts triggered the charges, they confirmed that one song that he shared was under investigation. This is believed to be “Yo, orystar” (“Yo, Russians”)— containing offensive lyrics about Russians—which was featured in a January 2024 post on Qaznews24 about Tina Kanderlak, a pro-government media personality in Russia. The satirical post was a reaction to Kanderlak’s claims about discrimination against the Russian language in Kazakhstan—comments that prompted Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry to ban her from entering the country.
A pretext for silencing a satirist?
Human rights defenders argue that Yensebek is being unjustly prosecuted for merely sharing the controversial song, which he did not write and which is not banned in Kazakhstan. Initially released much earlier, the song gained renewed traction on social media in Kazakhstan following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Although the blogger shared it in a post published a year ago, law enforcement authorities have only now taken action against him. Yesebek’s supporters argue that the song is used a pretext for targeting him over his satirical critique of domestic affairs and government policies.
This is not the first time Yensebek has come under government scrutiny. In 2021, he was investigated for allegedly spreading false information under another broadly worded Criminal Code provision (Article 274). Authorities claimed that his posts “misinformed” and “misled” citizens, but the case was eventually closed.
As highlighted by IPHR and partners, both the provision on incitement to discord, under which Yensebek has now been charged, and the one on knowingly disseminating false information, under which he was investigated in 2021, have been repeatedly used against government critics. His case reinforces concerns about the misuse of these provisions to suppress freedom of expression. Criminal prosecution with the threat of imprisonment is clearly a disproportionate response to his sharing of a song that is widely available on social media, despite its offensive lyrics.
Crackdown on protesters supporting the blogger
Following Yensebek’s arrest, activists peacefully protesting in support of him have faced penalties. At least six have been sentenced to fines or 15 days’ detention for staging one-person pickets holding messages such as “Satire is not a crime.” They have been accused of violating assembly rules for failing to obtain prior permission—despite the fact that the country’s law on assemblies does not regulate one-person pickets. The practice of requiring advance permission for protests has been repeatedly criticised by human rights NGOs and international experts.
Yensebek’s arrest comes amid an unrelenting crackdown on dissent in Kazakhstan and increasing risks for those who challenge official narratives. When Kazakhstan’s human rights record was reviewed in Geneva last week under the Universal Periodic Review, UN member states voiced concerns about these trends, urging the government to protect bloggers against persecution and bring its practices on assemblies in line with international standards. The government should demonstrate its commitment to human rights by heeding these calls. Releasing Yensebek and those detained for supporting him will be important steps toward this goal.
