Kazakhstan: Karakalpak Diaspora Leader Draws Attention to Lack of Support for Labor Migrants in Detention Centers

The head of the Karakalpak diaspora in Kazakhstan, Aqylbek Muratbai, has stated that Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan neglect their citizens held in Kazakhstan's pre-trial detention centers, Orda.kz reports.

Muratbai himself spent a year in the Almaty detention center. During that time, he said he witnessed dozens of foreign nationals — mostly from neighboring Central Asian countries — waiting months for extradition or trial without receiving assistance from their consulates.

During the 12 months of my stay in the pre-trial detention center, dozens of such appeals, statements, requests and complaints addressed to consular authorities from arrested Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek citizens were filed. And not once did anyone receive an answer. Not to mention any visits to detained compatriots by diplomats,  Muratbai wrote on "X".

He described how many migrants are detained directly at workplaces such as bakeries or construction sites, and then taken to detention centers without being allowed to contact their families or obtain legal defense.

According to him, he often stepped in to help others with clothing and appeals.

In the summer, we got into the cell in a T-shirt and slippers, in the winter, we collected whatever we could from the cell: I gave boots, someone a jacket, someone a hat. People traveled for extradition for weeks without warm clothes,he recalled.

The activist stressed that such detainees face both physical and informational isolation.

Phone calls are rarely allowed, letters often fail to arrive, and state-appointed lawyers appear only once during proceedings.

Due to the virtual inaction of state lawyers, people were given prison sentences and fines much higher than they could have received with legal assistance. In some cases, people cannot even get a new passport after it expires - which makes them ineligible to apply for parole.

He also referred to public assurances made by Uzbek consuls about responsibility for detained compatriots, but said those promises were never fulfilled.

It is interesting that the current consul of Uzbekistan in Almaty is originally from Karakalpakstan. I really hope that at least through such a fellow countryman my publication will reach the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Muratbai added.

Aqylbek Muratbai was released from the Almaty pre-trial detention center on February 15, 2025. He had been held for a year under an extradition request from Uzbekistan. Kazakh authorities did not hand him over, and he was eventually freed.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov