Karakalpak activist wanted in Uzbekistan dies in Almaty

An activist convicted over the 2022 protests in Uzbekistan’s autonomous Karakalpak republic has died of a heart attack in Almaty, his associates said on Tuesday.

Urazbayev, the leader of the Karakalpak community in Mangistau Region, was in May 2023 sentenced by an Uzbek court in absentia to 12 years in jail over his alleged role in the July 2022 protests.

The Karakalpak protests were triggered by the Uzbek government’s plans to revoke Karakalpakstan’s constitutional right to secede from Uzbekistan through a referendum.

The protests escalated into riots, involving clashes with police. The unrest left 21 people, including four police officers, dead, according to officials.

Uzbek courts sentenced a total of 61 people to various prison terms for involvement in the Karakalpak protests.

Another Karakalpak activist living in Kazakhstan, Akylbek Muratbay, said Urazbayev died in an Almaty hospital from a heart condition caused by “continuous stress”.

He said Urazbayev had recently been living in Almaty with his daughter “because of fears that he might be secretly abducted by the Uzbek security service from his home in Aktau”.

Urazbayev was granted Kazakh citizenship in 2017. However, in December the authorities abolished his citizenship at the request of the Uzbek consulate which claimed that in applying for a Kazakh passport Urazbayev had used a fake document to prove that he no longer held Uzbek citizenship. Kazakhstan does not allow dual citizenship.

In November Kazakhstan rejected the asylum applications of another five Karakalpak activists wanted in Uzbekistan. All five had been held in Kazakh police custody for almost a year.

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