Aset Abishev's sentence upheld

On February 13, 2019, the Appeals Board of the Almaty City Court upheld the sentence passed on civil activist Asset Abishev. He was charged with the commission of offenses under Part 1 of Art. 266 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan - “Financing activity of criminal group, as well as storage, division of property, development financing channels”, as well as part 2 of Art. 405 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan - “Organization and participation in activity of public or religious association or other organization after court decision on prohibition of their activity or liquidation in connection with carrying out by them the extremism or terrorism”.

According to the prosecution, a resident of Almaty published posts on Facebook in support of Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK) and reposted messages from the head of that organization M.Ablyazov. Aset Abishev pleaded not guilty. He claims that he has nothing to do with the DCK. On November 30, 2018, the Almalinsky District Court of Almaty sentenced a civil activist to four years in prison with a sentence served in the institution of the medium-security penal system. The civil activist has been under arrest since July 5, 2018.  The sentence term is calculated since that time. Observers of the trial, human rights activists claimed numerous serious violations of Abishev’s rights to protection.