Court Does Not Want to Heed UN's recommendations - Zhanbolat Mamay's Lawyer

Public activists and lawyers have stated the need to waive Zhanbolat Mamay's punishment reports Orda.kz. Mamay is the leader of the unregistered Democratic Party of Kazakhstan (DPK) and has been given six-year suspended sentence. 

Yernar Kenzhebayev, Mamay's lawyer, recalled that the UN working group gave Kazakhstan's government six months to restore the activit's rights and pay him compensation. Experts concluded that Mamay's sentence contradicts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We heard from the judge that this decision is advisory in nature, that is, it is not legally binding. We want to object. Kazakhstan has ratified the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. The republic is also a UN member and, within the framework of its statutory obligations, must fulfill the international contractual obligations of the UN working groups. Therefore, we hope for objectivity, lawyer Yernar Kenzhebayev said at a press conference in Astana.

RMB: The Almaty court found Zhanbolat Mamay guilty of spreading deliberately false information and organizing mass riots. The activist was sentenced to six years of probation. He has also been prohibited from engaging in socio-political and publicistic activities.

Mamay's lawyers tried to appeal the verdict unsuccessfully.

During the main trial, the charges were changed, namely, a new indictment was drawn up in Mamay's case on the initiative of the state prosecutor. For our part, we have filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding the violation, that is, the possibility of changing the indictment during the main trial. (We -Ed.) indicated what the inconsistency of the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code is, Kenzhebayev added.

Orda.kz has previously reported that in the annual report of the US State Department on human rights in the countries of the world for 2022, Zhanbolat Mamay was recognized as a "political prisoner".

Original Author: Rayana Batyr

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