THE STORY OF ZHANARA AKHMETOVA
In March 2017, Zhanara Akhmetova and her minor son came to Ukraine to seek political asylum. She left her two adult children in Kazakhstan.
Zhanara Akhmetova
Her nickname is Zhanna Bota. In Ukraine, she was a programming director of the Kazakhstan-based opposition TV channel '16/12', one of the leaders of the opposition movement banned in Kazakhstan, Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan. Now she is initiating the establishment of 'Azamat' movement.
Photo taken from personal account on Facebook.
Photo taken from personal account on Facebook.
In 2008, she was sentenced to seven years in prison on a charge of the failure to return money. However, the sentence was set aside until her son reaches 14 years old. When she was at «conditional» liberty, Zhanara Akhmetova found herself in political journalism and running blogs related to the opposition activity.
Being the author of the opposition newspaper «Tribune» and a popular blogger, she covered the trial of film director Talgad Zhanybekov in January 2017 live. On the same day, she was fined «for organising an unauthorised rally.»
In February, she was again detained when she was going to cover the rally. The new court fined her for participation in the cancelled unauthorised rally. Two days later, she was again detained: she was accused of jaywalking that allegedly happened one month earlier, and she was fined. The nasty thing is that three violations during the suspended sentence imply the return to the colony.
It was a red flag when Zhanara Akhmetova was again detained on March 11, 2017 and delivered to the police station on the grounds that she allegedly was on the wanted list. The lawyer managed to release her, but she felt she would be imprisoned soon, and left Kazakhstan with her son Ansar. In Kyiv, she joined the opposition movement «Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan» (DVK), which is banned in Kazakhstan, and was in charge of communications work.
The latter circumstance led to the fact that envoys from Kazakhstan attempted hard to get Akhmetova back to the motherland, even, as she thought, to abduct her and her son in 2018. However, her police report, just like with the previous interviewee, was left unanswered.
Currently, she is in a critical situation because Kyiv adopted a decision to extradite her on the request of the authorities of Kazakhstan. Dozens of human rights organisations, some deputies of the European Parliament, congressmen from the United States and Italy intervened to support Zhanara Akhmetova. Now she is trying to appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
Being the author of the opposition newspaper «Tribune» and a popular blogger, she covered the trial of film director Talgad Zhanybekov in January 2017 live. On the same day, she was fined «for organising an unauthorised rally.»
In February, she was again detained when she was going to cover the rally. The new court fined her for participation in the cancelled unauthorised rally. Two days later, she was again detained: she was accused of jaywalking that allegedly happened one month earlier, and she was fined. The nasty thing is that three violations during the suspended sentence imply the return to the colony.
It was a red flag when Zhanara Akhmetova was again detained on March 11, 2017 and delivered to the police station on the grounds that she allegedly was on the wanted list. The lawyer managed to release her, but she felt she would be imprisoned soon, and left Kazakhstan with her son Ansar. In Kyiv, she joined the opposition movement «Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan» (DVK), which is banned in Kazakhstan, and was in charge of communications work.
The latter circumstance led to the fact that envoys from Kazakhstan attempted hard to get Akhmetova back to the motherland, even, as she thought, to abduct her and her son in 2018. However, her police report, just like with the previous interviewee, was left unanswered.
Currently, she is in a critical situation because Kyiv adopted a decision to extradite her on the request of the authorities of Kazakhstan. Dozens of human rights organisations, some deputies of the European Parliament, congressmen from the United States and Italy intervened to support Zhanara Akhmetova. Now she is trying to appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
Photos taken from her personal page on Facebook
As with the Sadykovs, Zhanara Akhmetova has already been in Kyiv before, and some people attempted to abduct her and her son, too.
Four years have passed, but the status of Zhanara Akhmetova and her son remain unclear. Everything depends on the smallest tip of the scale.
On the one part, there are the authorities of Kazakhstan that are trying so hard, which is unusual for them, to return criminals (moreover, economic criminals), the migration police that is ready to take their side, and the Supreme Court of Ukraine that made a decision this May, after numerous twists and turns, to extradite them.
But there's another part – the court of appeals, some deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, human rights organisations, deputies of the European Parliament, and western congressmen. Here, it all depends on the winner.
Four years have passed, but the status of Zhanara Akhmetova and her son remain unclear. Everything depends on the smallest tip of the scale.
On the one part, there are the authorities of Kazakhstan that are trying so hard, which is unusual for them, to return criminals (moreover, economic criminals), the migration police that is ready to take their side, and the Supreme Court of Ukraine that made a decision this May, after numerous twists and turns, to extradite them.
But there's another part – the court of appeals, some deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, human rights organisations, deputies of the European Parliament, and western congressmen. Here, it all depends on the winner.
“
Investigation of the extradition decision is pending because the prosecutor's office is waiting for the reaction of migration authorities. We are suspended again.
Now, after the decision of the Supreme Court, we again applied to migration police for the refugee status upon discovery of new facts: the movement «Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan» was unreasonably banned by court decision in Kazakhstan, then repressive measures followed; a whole group of influential persons supported the refugees from Kazakhstan.
However, the migration agency has not responded to the application for three months. Respectively, the prosecutor's office cannot verify the legitimacy of extradition as it is suspended until the migration agencies issue their decision and can take a few years of court appeals.
However, the migration agency has not responded to the application for three months. Respectively, the prosecutor's office cannot verify the legitimacy of extradition as it is suspended until the migration agencies issue their decision and can take a few years of court appeals.
Photo taken from personal page on Facebook.
The first refugees from Kazakhstan were either lucky, or their situation was unambiguous. Or the times were different, particularly, right after the second revolution.
«Migration agency is absolutely Soviet-like here in Ukraine. They react to all refugees with animosity. That's why I applied to the UNHCR before I went to the migration agency.
They helped me to complete questionnaire forms because it is unreal to come there and complete a bunch of forms in the Ukrainian language, and specify the things that would help get the status. Very often people don't even know what documents to submit. The migration police were very angry that we came via the UNHCR, not directly, but they received us in June, and rejected our application on October 18,» Akhmetova said.
The Supreme Court of Ukraine issued a decision regarding the first rejection only this May.
«Migration agency is absolutely Soviet-like here in Ukraine. They react to all refugees with animosity. That's why I applied to the UNHCR before I went to the migration agency.
They helped me to complete questionnaire forms because it is unreal to come there and complete a bunch of forms in the Ukrainian language, and specify the things that would help get the status. Very often people don't even know what documents to submit. The migration police were very angry that we came via the UNHCR, not directly, but they received us in June, and rejected our application on October 18,» Akhmetova said.
The Supreme Court of Ukraine issued a decision regarding the first rejection only this May.
«Here people who fled Russia and took part in fights as a member of ATO cannot get a status and the citizenship. When Zelensky came to office, he promised that their problems would be solved. And they had very high hopes related to this issue.
But they are not solved because the migration agency, I think, is a corrupt body as it is related with the police. It is controlled directly by the interior ministry and carries out deportation and grants statuses and citizenships. If the same agency is responsible for the same function, they cannot be independent, right? Therefore, they tend towards deporting us.
On top of that, we always see publications here that the Ukrainian intelligence agencies are involved in abductions of political refugees from other countries,» the political refugee from Kazakhstan criticises strongly the migration police of Ukraine.
And finally …
«There are many corruption ways to get a status, to obtain citizenship. I have been offered to get a residence permit, many options, many times. Of course, I don't find them appropriate, and I won't be using them.»
But they are not solved because the migration agency, I think, is a corrupt body as it is related with the police. It is controlled directly by the interior ministry and carries out deportation and grants statuses and citizenships. If the same agency is responsible for the same function, they cannot be independent, right? Therefore, they tend towards deporting us.
On top of that, we always see publications here that the Ukrainian intelligence agencies are involved in abductions of political refugees from other countries,» the political refugee from Kazakhstan criticises strongly the migration police of Ukraine.
And finally …
«There are many corruption ways to get a status, to obtain citizenship. I have been offered to get a residence permit, many options, many times. Of course, I don't find them appropriate, and I won't be using them.»
The first time after the escape was financially difficult.
«We came here absolutely without money. We escaped so fast so that we did not take clothing or money to rent an apartment. My relatives used to help me as it was very difficult,» Akhmetova said.
However, everything settled down over time. Even refugees can survive in Kyiv; if you have certain skills and some luck, you can even live here, but there are some peculiarities.
«It was absurd sometimes. Recently, we agreed to cast in an ad. We have an ethnic casting agency here, and Ansar and I applied. We have so many opportunities here, so many things to do so we can survive in Ukraine. I have done so many things: I cooked at home, wrote short news stories for the media, took part in creating promotional posters, and many other things. Of course, I have been in the Ablyazov's team (Mukhtar Ablyazov is a Kazakhstani opposition politician in exile; was convicted of grand larceny – author's note), we've lived so quietly all this time. But before I joined his time, it took me a lot of time to simply survive,» she said.
But these are not legal things to do. Once applicants apply for a refugee status, they can count on 17 hryvnias of lump-sum benefit (0.6 dollars at the rate of 03.12.2020) from the state and on themselves thereafter.
«We came here absolutely without money. We escaped so fast so that we did not take clothing or money to rent an apartment. My relatives used to help me as it was very difficult,» Akhmetova said.
However, everything settled down over time. Even refugees can survive in Kyiv; if you have certain skills and some luck, you can even live here, but there are some peculiarities.
«It was absurd sometimes. Recently, we agreed to cast in an ad. We have an ethnic casting agency here, and Ansar and I applied. We have so many opportunities here, so many things to do so we can survive in Ukraine. I have done so many things: I cooked at home, wrote short news stories for the media, took part in creating promotional posters, and many other things. Of course, I have been in the Ablyazov's team (Mukhtar Ablyazov is a Kazakhstani opposition politician in exile; was convicted of grand larceny – author's note), we've lived so quietly all this time. But before I joined his time, it took me a lot of time to simply survive,» she said.
But these are not legal things to do. Once applicants apply for a refugee status, they can count on 17 hryvnias of lump-sum benefit (0.6 dollars at the rate of 03.12.2020) from the state and on themselves thereafter.
“
Overall, it is terrible. If you are not a citizen, you may not open a debit card. If you could open it, you cannot get any money to it as you are not a taxpayer. Why aren't refugees allowed to work? Because we are not taxpayers, we cannot have the ID, they cannot impose a tax on us. This is rather absurd!I remember I exceeded the term of some certificate, I just got mixed over the dates, and came a few days later. And I was fined for 1,700 hryvnias!
But most of all, I was concerned about security, although Kazakhstan was thousands kilometres away.
«My son studies online from the very beginning because we are always under surveillance. They take pictures of us, follow us everywhere. It started literally on the very first day,» Zhanara said with tiredness. «All those people who took part in surveillance and stayed in Kyiv were local people, the Ukrainians.
I used to wonder before: why Ukrainians, why the police do not act, do not respond to our complaints? And then I found out that this was the whole industry that was «covered» by the police. In fact, we've seen various forms: titushky and provokers and those who were carrying out the surveillance.»
While we were speaking about the police, we wondered how Zhanara was treating the Ukrainian law enforcement officers, who were to resemble their colleagues from Georgia after the 2015 reform. However, Ukraine has failed, according to many people.
«My son studies online from the very beginning because we are always under surveillance. They take pictures of us, follow us everywhere. It started literally on the very first day,» Zhanara said with tiredness. «All those people who took part in surveillance and stayed in Kyiv were local people, the Ukrainians.
I used to wonder before: why Ukrainians, why the police do not act, do not respond to our complaints? And then I found out that this was the whole industry that was «covered» by the police. In fact, we've seen various forms: titushky and provokers and those who were carrying out the surveillance.»
While we were speaking about the police, we wondered how Zhanara was treating the Ukrainian law enforcement officers, who were to resemble their colleagues from Georgia after the 2015 reform. However, Ukraine has failed, according to many people.
«The police reform does not eliminate the illegal business of the police, and the police reform has helped me a lot. How? The national police do not control their patrol, at least in my case when they attempted to abduct me. The patrol did not obey the orders of the police officers who allegedly came to detain me. The so-called police officers had police badges, and we still do not know who they were despite the inquiry from the MPs to the prosecutor's office and interior ministry and other agencies.
In this regard, corruption obviously exists in the national police bodies. The president has spoken about corruption in courts, in police. Even MPs we have met with here always tell about the Arsen Avakov factor, which cannot be eliminated and promotes the corruption,» Akhmetova said.
In this regard, corruption obviously exists in the national police bodies. The president has spoken about corruption in courts, in police. Even MPs we have met with here always tell about the Arsen Avakov factor, which cannot be eliminated and promotes the corruption,» Akhmetova said.
Despite the bureaucratic machine and «remembrances» from the motherland, Zhanara and her son have only positive emotions from all other things that are linked with their living in Kyiv.
«You know, I can understand very well their language because I participate in courts, meet with lawyers. The language is similar to the Russian and I can perceive it easily. I don't use interpreters in courts, although this is a requirement sometimes. But I cannot speak it due to some linguistic barrier, I guess. My kid tells me I'd better keep silent that speak like that. Ansar speaks fluently, without any accent. People are amazed by his Ukrainian speaking skills,» she said.
The residents of Kyiv do not treat them as strangers.
«It's vice versa. What's good here is that you go downtown and people here feel free, relaxed, unconstrained. Here are many different people, many foreigners,» Akhmetova said.
In general, everything in Kyiv satisfies her four years later. If only she received the status of a refugee. But despite the relative comfort, Zhanara Akhmetova views Kyiv as a temporary option. All her relatives remained in Kazakhstan.
«You know, I can understand very well their language because I participate in courts, meet with lawyers. The language is similar to the Russian and I can perceive it easily. I don't use interpreters in courts, although this is a requirement sometimes. But I cannot speak it due to some linguistic barrier, I guess. My kid tells me I'd better keep silent that speak like that. Ansar speaks fluently, without any accent. People are amazed by his Ukrainian speaking skills,» she said.
The residents of Kyiv do not treat them as strangers.
«It's vice versa. What's good here is that you go downtown and people here feel free, relaxed, unconstrained. Here are many different people, many foreigners,» Akhmetova said.
In general, everything in Kyiv satisfies her four years later. If only she received the status of a refugee. But despite the relative comfort, Zhanara Akhmetova views Kyiv as a temporary option. All her relatives remained in Kazakhstan.
«I have mother, father, two children, two sisters there. I am always under pressure. They don't forget about us and always remind about them. Currently, there are different difficulties there, but I don't want to make them public.
Currently, because of my withdrawal from DVK, different people try to reach me from different angles. They try to organise a meeting with me via locals in Ukraine. They send me signals «from there», look forward to seeing me. I guess, it's important for them to make me witness against Ablyazov.
They said openly that they were ready to forget about court trials against me and let me return to Kazakhstan. I avoid such meetings, although serious people who have played a significant role in my life here, in Ukraine, tell me about them.
Ukraine and Kyiv, in particular, is a beautiful city. I know I would be missing this place a lot someday. But, anyway, all my thoughts are that I can get back home one day. Although it's great here, and if I leave things to take their own course, I could be living in Ukraine securely.»
Currently, because of my withdrawal from DVK, different people try to reach me from different angles. They try to organise a meeting with me via locals in Ukraine. They send me signals «from there», look forward to seeing me. I guess, it's important for them to make me witness against Ablyazov.
They said openly that they were ready to forget about court trials against me and let me return to Kazakhstan. I avoid such meetings, although serious people who have played a significant role in my life here, in Ukraine, tell me about them.
Ukraine and Kyiv, in particular, is a beautiful city. I know I would be missing this place a lot someday. But, anyway, all my thoughts are that I can get back home one day. Although it's great here, and if I leave things to take their own course, I could be living in Ukraine securely.»
Zhanara Akhmetova
blogger, political writer, opposition activist
© 2020 CABAR.asia