Наш веб-сайт использует файлы cookie, чтобы предоставить вам возможность просматривать релевантную информацию. Прежде чем продолжить использование нашего веб-сайта, вы соглашаетесь и принимаете нашу политику использования файлов cookie и конфиденциальность.
Kazakh authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a self-exiled rights activist on suspicion of swindling and spreading false information.
Dina Smailova (Dina Tansari), who heads the NeMolchiKZ fund, which supports victims of domestic violence, has denied the allegations.
According to the Interior Ministry, Smailova is suspected of publishing “unconfirmed” information related to some cases that her fund dealt with in the past.
“They [the posts] led to complaints from individual citizens because her false posts violated their rights”, the Interior Ministry’s deputy head of investigations, Samat Aisov told journalists on Wednesday.
For example, Aisov said, in April Smailova published ”false” information about a suicide allegedly of an underage girl.
“She published posts expressing condolences to the family and questioning the denial issued by the police … All her posts proved to be wrong.”
The police also suspect Smailova of misusing funds raised through “false” reports about domestic violence cases.
Smailova is facing a total of six cases on charges of deliberately spreading false information, violating privacy and swindling, according to the police.
Smailova, in an Instagram video post, denied all the accusations, saying her fund was being persecuted “because it is the only organisation in Kazakhstan that is providing real help to victims of domestic violence”.
“We are being accused of pretending to carry out rights activism in order to allegedly enrich ourselves.”
Smailova said the Fund was preparing documents to refute the accusations brought against it.
Smailova founded NeMolchiKZ (Don’tBeSilentKZ) seven years ago. The fund helped bring dozens of people to justice for committing violence, including sexual violence, against women and children. Ten police officers were convicted and about another 200 were disciplined or fired as a result of the fund’s investigations.
Smailova moved to Georgia in 2021, citing official pressure. She continued to run the fund from there. In October the Georgian authorities barred her from re-entering the country, following a trip to Turkey. In November the Kazakh authorities blocked the fund’s bank accounts in Kazakhstan.
Smailova called for public support, “because if the public do not stand up for the fund, it is going to be catastrophic”.
“I am worried, I am concerned, it is a shameful situation for Kazakhstan,” Smailova, who is currently in an undisclosed European country, said.
“You all know that unfair trials do happen in Kazakhstan, and authorities find fake witnesses to testify against rights activists. We have seen many trials like that.”
