On October 8, the city court of Aktau announced its final conclusions in a months-long trial initiated by Kazakhstan’s prosecution against Vladimir Kozlov, leader of the unregistered political party Alga and two other civil rights activists. The official verdict states that Vladimir Kozlov shall be sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, while his personal property becomes subject to legal seizure. These assets include three personal vehicles, several land plots, as well as all of Alga’s regional offices located in 14 different cities across the country and officially registered in Kozlov’s name.

Akzhanat Aminov who had represented the interests of striking oil workers employed by the OzenMunaiGaz oil company prior to the bloody Zhanaozen unrest of December 2011 was sentenced to three years on probation. His colleague Serik Sapargali, known as one of the leaders of the People’s Front umbrella organization serving as a platform for several opposition movements, received a similar sentence and, together with Aminov, was released from custody in the courtroom. Before the final hearings, local media reported that both Aminov and Sapargali had partly agreed with the validity of charges pressed against them, unlike Vladimir Kozlov who continues to deny his presumed role in the destabilization of the Manghistau region last year.

Kozlov and Sapargali were arrested by the National Security Committee in January 2012, on the grounds of their active participation in antigovernment protests in Western Kazakhstan. As for Akzhanat Aminov, he was detained by investigators one month later. According to the country’s Prosecutor General Askhat Daulbayev who made an official statement following these arrests, the activity of striking workers was sponsored and sustained by certain individuals aiming to incite “social discord” and provoke violent civil unrest by means of continuous propaganda. Mukhtar Ablyazov, the former chairman of the BTA bank and Nazarbayev’s long-time political opponent, was directly accused of financing the Alga party and the People’s Front which supposedly channeled these funds to the trade unions.

In mid-May, Kozlov and his associates were sent to Aktau where local authorities had already launched judicial proceedings against them. All three were officially charged with attempting to organize a criminal group (art. 235 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code) and preparing a forcible change of government in breach of the country’s constitutional rule and territorial integrity (art. 170). The trial began on August 16, with the prosecution asking for a nine-year sentence for Kozlov as well as five- and four-year sentences for Aminov and Sapargali respectively. Although Vladimir Kozlov did not deny Mukhtar Ablyazov’s continued financial assistance to the Alga party and his personal friendship with the exiled oligarch, he always insisted on the peaceful character of demonstrations organized in support of oil workers. At the same time, the prosecution widely referred to art. 164 of the Criminal Code providing punishment for encouragements to “social discord”, among other types of legally reprehensible behavior. According to most experts who have followed the trial, this term does not have any equivalent in foreign legal systems and remains too vague to serve as a sufficiently convincing criminal accusation.

The verdict of the Aktau court has been unanimously condemned by human rights organizations and even several Western governments. In its brief statement released on the following day, the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan denounced the “apparent use of the criminal system to silence opposition voices,” while the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton expressed the opinion that “Mr. Kozlov’s sentence seems disproportionate and, given his political activities, seems to carry political overtones.” She also called on Kazakh authorities “to review the process, in line with the international commitments and obligations of Kazakhstan.” Mihra Rittmann, a Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, believes that “[t]he imprisonment of Kozlov further limits a narrow political landscape in Kazakhstan and sends a chilling effect to others who might want to criticize the government and its policies”. A similar view was expressed by Freedom House, according to whom the Kozlov trial “will serve as a pretext for cracking down on other members of the opposition, as well as members of independent civil society.”

Previously, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in an interview to Russia’s state TV channel that the Zhanaozen unrest was a simple labor dispute between the employer and the employees, but was successfully instrumentalized by malicious individuals for criminal purposes. He also confirmed that the principal “puppeteers” had already been detained. At the same time, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry harshly attacked all the criticism related to the holding of the trial, declaring that “attempts of individual countries or any international organizations to influence the verdict undermine the fundamental principles of the rule of law.” It also reminded that Vladimir Kozlov could at any time appeal to the court’s decision in respect of normal legal procedures.