Deputy Seeks Amnesty For People Convicted Over Social Media Comments

Deputy Rinat Zaitov asked parliament to include people convicted over social media comments in the amnesty list, Orda.kz reports.

According to him, parliament can use the amnesty to strengthen Kazakhstan’s authority on the international stage.

During the working group meetings, we expressed many opinions and made a number of proposals. Unfortunately, the competent authorities did not support them, but we tried. Now is not the place to talk in detail about which articles these are and who they concern. Kazakhstan has the principle of an influential parliament. An influential parliament is one of the factors of a strong president. And today parliament has the opportunity to strengthen the authority of our president and the country on the international stage,Zaitov said.

He also asked his colleagues to support amnesty for people prosecuted under Article 274 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code.

Therefore, dear colleagues, the only thing I ask is not amnesty for those who committed an offense while intoxicated, and not for other similar categories. We have people who are tried for comments on social media. I beg all colleagues to help ensure that those prosecuted under Article 274 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code fall under the amnesty. For the sake of the Almighty,the deputy said.

Article 274 of the Criminal Code provides liability for disseminating knowingly false information. In recent years, it has repeatedly been used against journalists and editorial offices. In December 2025, KazTAG editor-in-chief Amir Kasenov was detained. Journalist Botagoz Omarova came under investigation under the same article in March this year.

Original author: Alina Elgeldina

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