Central Asia: Political Prisoners and Ongoing Human Rights Abuses

[00:00:11]All right. Well, welcome everybody and I'm going to be in and out because I got a crazy day here, but I think this is an important briefing and I want to welcome everybody. I want to thank you for attending today's briefing on Central Asia political prisoners and ongoing human rights abuses. I would like to welcome my distinguished panelists. Some of you have traveled here to brief members of Congress and staff and we're grateful to them.

[00:00:37]You know, Central Asia, it is a it but it is a mistake to think of Central It is a it but it is a mistake to think of Central Asian countries only in relation to those around them.

[00:00:48]It is unfair to the 84 million people, a population as big as Germany's, who call the five nations their home.

[00:00:55]They each have magnificent histories, cultures, and languages.

[00:01:00]Their peoples hold their own aspirations for the future.

[00:01:05]All the Central Asian states, to varying degrees, systematically denies uh systemically deny their citizens fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

[00:01:18]None in the region have the right to freely change their government.

[00:01:23]As summarized in a piece published by Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty last week, political space that once existed in the years after independence from the Soviet Union has dramatically dramatically narrowed.

[00:01:36]Even Kyrgyzstan, uh once the most democratic of states, has slipped [snorts] into authoritarianism.

[00:01:44]Without effective opposition parties and with rights to freedom of expression and assembly curtailed, we see people resorting to mass protests to express their grievances. And this is often met by a brutal crackdown.

[00:01:58]A nationwide protest over corruption and prices in Kazakhstan in 2022 resulted in Bloody January, in which more than 200 demonstrators were killed after the president issued a shoot-to-kill order.

[00:02:14]That same year, a crackdown on protesters in Tajikistan killed some 40 people.

[00:02:20]In Uzbekistan, victims of a 2020 family members were going to be advocating for the rights of ethnic Kazakhs in the Xinjiang region of China.

[00:02:33]We are also joined by Kate Waters of Crude Accountability and Steve Swerdlow of the University of Southern California for their insight into human rights conditions in these countries.

[00:02:44]As always, in these hearings and briefings, we seek recommendations for US policy. Last fall, President Trump hosted the most recent C5+1 dialogue with the heads of Central Asian countries at the White House.

[00:02:58]They cut deals on critical minerals, connectivity, and trade. Today, we have the data the data that we presented, and I look forward to the read out of the discussion. And again, um you know, we need to be talking about the stuff we're talking about in today.

[00:03:16]And so, hopefully this is the beginning of getting these these issues raised to more prominence here in the House of Representatives, and I'll yield to Todd of the Tell us how we're going to proceed.

[00:03:28]>> Thank you very much, Congressman. Thank you for the remarks.

[00:03:31]Um so, now again, I'm Todd Stein, Democratic Staff Director of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. I'll do short bios, and then we'll go to the briefers in order.

[00:03:41]Um first, we have Gulnara who is Karakalpak human rights defender and president of Bota Jarqa, US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing human rights in the region.

[00:03:52]Serikzhan Bilash is a Kazakh human rights activist born in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.

[00:04:00]He is founder of the Atajurt organization Atajurt Kazakhs Kazakh human rights based in Kazakhstan, which has documented human rights violations and atrocities against ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and Kyrgyz in Xinjiang. He was listed as the Congressman mentioned in the Tom Lantos Human Rights Project and and was released in 2019.

[00:04:21]And again, I apologize if I am getting any of these names wrong. You can all correct me in the course of the conversation.

[00:04:27]>> I'll I'll correct your pronunciation.

[00:04:31]>> the Caucasus and Russia since the early 1990s and has lived and and traveled extensively throughout the region and speaks fluent Russian.

[00:04:40]Steve Swerdlow is a human rights lawyer and associate professor of the practice of human rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California.

[00:04:50]I know. An expert on the former Soviet region, Swerdlow teaches international human rights law, human rights research and advocacy, and on human rights across Eurasia.

[00:05:00]From 2010 to 2020, he was senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

[00:05:05]And so, we'll first go to Gulya.

[00:05:09]>> Um before I begin, I want to express my deep gratitude to the Lantos Human Rights Commission for carrying forward the extraordinary legacy of Congressman Tom Lantos. As the only voices are silenced, increasingly of our body still have a place to be heard. Today, I'm honored to speak on behalf of the people of Karakalpakstan.

[00:05:31]Um 3 years ago, peaceful demonstrators in Karakalpakstan were killed, gravely wounded, detained, and disappeared while defending rights guaranteed by their own constitution. Today, many of those responsible remain in position of power, while people who demand justice remain in prison. Thank you for giving the people of Karakalpakstan an opportunity to be heard before the United States Congress.

[00:05:57]Before discussing political prisoners, it is essential to understand what Karakalpakstan is and why its constitutional status matters.

[00:06:07]Karakalpakstan is not another administrative region of Uzbekistan. In fact, Karakalpakstan was the second republic that declared its independence from the USSR after Lithuania did and um we signed a 20-year temporary agreement with Uzbekistan saying that we will be part of them in the conditions that of Karakalpakstan.

[00:06:34]That agreement was temporary. It was not intended to settle the relationship permanently. Its 20-year period ended in 2013. Yet, no transparent negotiations followed. No new agreement was presented to the people and no public constitutional process was permitted to determine what the relationship between the two republics should become after the agreement expired. Instead of answering these legitimate constitutional questions through dialogue, people came to the streets of Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan. They were not demanding violently. They were attempting to They were not attempting to overthrow the government. They were demanding that the constitution be respected. They were defending rights already guaranteed to them by law.

[00:07:23]Bloody July did not begin because people suddenly became dissatisfied. It was a culmination of decades of political marginalization.

[00:07:32]questions fight and lethal force against peaceful demonstrators. The uh US artillery officer who in Iraq and Afghanistan. He analyzed the videos and he was horrified. He said that these were crimes against humanity and the Uzbek government says that 25 21 people were killed, but it is a government speaker, not an independently verified account accounting of the full human cost. Survivors, witnesses, victims' families, and talk about human rights defenders believe that the true number of people may have been significantly higher because the authorities restricted access, controlled information, pressured families, and never permitted generally independent international investigation.

[00:08:26]The full number of those killed, wounded, and detained or disappeared remains unknown. Amnesty International noted from the beginning that the restriction on access on access made independent verification extraordinarily difficult. To this day, no complete and credible list of victims has been released. There has been no independent international investigation into the chain of command. There has been almost no meaningful accountability for the deaths and responsible for the violence. The authorities prosecuted people who defended the constitutional rights of Karakalpakstan. The most prominent among them is Daulat Muratazhe Muradov. Daulat Muradov is a Karakalpak lawyer, journalist, and human rights defender.

[00:09:10]He peacefully called upon citizens to defend Karakalpakstan's constitutional status. He was violently arrested and United Nations expert received credible allegations that he was physically assaulted, threatened, tortured, and subjected to degrading treatment. He was later sentenced to 16 years in prison.

[00:09:31]The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that his imprisonment was arbitrary and called for his immediate release. Uzbekistan did not release, but they intensified the torture and they added additional years of imprisonment. He has suffered severe weight loss. He has reported to have difficulty eating. He has been denied adequate and independent medical care. He has been subjected to isolation, degrading treatment, confiscation of his writings and restrictions on communications with his family. United Nations experts have expressed serious concern for his health and safety. Daulet Murad's case is not an isolated injustice. It has become a symbol of what has happened in Karakalpakstan. A number of Karakalpaks have already died in custody under deeply troubling circumstances. These deaths have created an enormous fear among Karakalpak people. When prisoners died, the question many Karakalpaks are afraid is painfully simple. Will Daulet Murad become the next Karakalpak prisoner who dies in custody? Congress has an opportunity, and I believe a responsibility, to help ensure that he does not. The repression did not end when the streets of Nukus were cleared.

[00:10:51]It entered people's homes, workplaces, schools, and phones. Today social media activity relating to Karakalpakstan is closely monitored. Authorities have targeted people for discussing Bloody July, Karakalpak sovereignty, political prisoners, the Karakalpak language, or demands for justice. Journalists and bloggers who work through YouTube, Telegram, and Instagram, and other platforms have received lengthy prison sentences.

[00:11:17]Karakalpak students and activists have reported punishments for sharing or for touching a button on their telephone, for sharing it, for touching a button on their telephone, for sharing a video, for liking a comment, for asking why the Karakalpak language is disappearing from public signs in Karakalpakstan? The purpose is not merely to punish individuals. It is It is to convince an entire people that discussing their history, demanding their demanding their language, or remembering their death has become a crime. Karakalpakstan is also experiencing a broader and more gradual corrosion of its identity. Our language has been pushed out of important areas of public life. Independent Karakalpak media cannot operate freely. There is also demographic and political dimension.

[00:12:07]Uh for years Karakalpak communities have expressed concerns about the settlement of ethnic Uzbeks in Karakalpakstan.

[00:12:14]While poverty, environmental devastation, unemployment, and lack of opportunity have uh compelled many Karakalpaks to leave their homeland in search of work.

[00:12:24]Uh-huh.

[00:12:25]>> We only have the room till 12:30, so I want to make sure that we have enough time for all of our briefers to give their remarks and for >> Okay, I will be I am uh uh I will finalize. Karakalpak women also uh uh expressed that they face forced sterilization uh uh in the Yet Uzbekistan presented internationally as reforming and reliable strategic partner. The United States has legitimate interest in Central Asia, regional stability, counter-terrorism, critical mineral resources.

[00:12:58]Those interests are but a stable strategic partnership cannot be built on the silence of victims. The government cannot present itself as reform-minded while imprisoning peaceful lawyers.

[00:13:10]Um Today I respectfully ask the Congress and the administration to take the following steps.

[00:13:17]First, publicly call for the immediate and unconditional release of Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, investigate investigation in late July. Fourth, demand transparent and independent in investigation into the death. Fifth, urges Uzbekistan to review and overturn convictions based solely on peaceful speech journalism.

[00:13:39]Sixth, insist that expanded cooperation with Uzbekistan including trade and investment be accompanied by specific public and measurable human rights benchmarks.

[00:13:51]Thank you so much for your attention.

[00:13:53]>> Um and we were joined by a group of high school students from Massachusetts, so that's really great to have them here.

[00:14:00]Uh Sarah Jones.

[00:14:03]>> Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, US Congress. Thank you. Thank you, Open Society Human Rights Commission for rescuing me from KGB jail of Kazakhstan 2019.

[00:14:15]And to the international community, along with my own sister, enduring severe physical and psychological torture and abuse in Kazakhstan KGB jail. They are currently held in Kazakhstan with similar notorious Soviet era KGB prison of Kazakhstan.

[00:14:37]To expose the existence of Xinjiang concentration camps, our organization has meticulously documented more than 10,000 video testimonies and have successfully facilitated the tools of rescue tens of thousands of Uyghurs.

[00:14:55]Notably, a teacher whom whom we rescued after she crossed the border from Xinjiang into Kazakhstan was subsequently honored with the US Department of State's International Women of Courage Award. The handsome uh Mike Pompeo and the handsome first lady Melania Trump.

[00:15:18]And they publicly exposed the concentration camps on global stage.

[00:15:24]Regarding the current location, two eyewitnesses whom we rescued, one Uyghur and one Kazakh, are presently in the United States. And another one Uyghur eyewitness and a several Kazakh eyewitnesses are currently located in Europe. This comes to all Central Asia into a parallel of Xinjiang region. So, I call it second Xinjiang.

[00:15:47]When the members of Atajurt organization, Kazakhstani correctional facilities detain some of the political prisoners, notably one of these detainees are the globally recognized Marat Zhylanbay, alongside the journalist Tumar Muhammad Qari, Aigerim Toleuzhan, and Merbolat Mirzakhan. Most recently, Gulnaz Serzhan, another prominent member of Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, received a substantial prison sentence due to historical social media publications in which she opposed the large-scale migration of Russian and the Chinese citizens into Kazakhstan.

[00:16:28]The achievements of Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights are substantiated by the research of Ethan Gutmann, a distinguished American scholar and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. This is particularly evident in his recently published volume, The Xinjiang Procedure, where his primary and the most comprehensive body of evidence is sourced directly from the work of Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights.

[00:16:54]Let me introduce myself. My name is Serikzhan Bilash. I was born in Xinjiang, China. In 2006, I immigrated from Xinjiang to Kazakhstan, where subsequently obtained a citizenship through naturalization. In 2017, I founded Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, an organization based in Kazakhstan dedicated to ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and the Kyrgyz population within the Xinjiang Uyghur network. Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, also known as Atajurt Volunteers, Atajurt Qazaq is a human rights organization dedicated to the documenting and publicizing the internment and the persecution of ethnic Kazakhs and other Turkic minorities in China's Xinjiang region. Founded in 2013 by myself, the group has faced the continuous state harassment due to the highly sensitive political nature of its operations. Today, our organization has gathered approximately 10,000 to expose the existence of these concentration camps. Although the Kazakh government has repeatedly denied the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights registration as either a political party or non-governmental organization NGO on technical grounds, authorities have paradoxically registered the two pro-government and pro-Chinese organizations under the exact same name of us. State-sponsored suspicion, state-sponsored suppression, and judicial harassment, judicial subjugation, we are diplomatic coercion. In April 2026 2026, a Kazakh court sentenced the 19 activists associated with Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights. During diplomatic note issued by the Chinese consulate in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Kazakh prosecutors escalated the what were initially minor infractions into serious criminal charges of inciting ethnic hatred. Not only did the officials' indictment explicitly cited the Chinese diplomatic note as the legal justification for the charges targeting our organization's leadership. Atajurt has been systematically dismantled by the state authorities. As the folder, I was arrested by Kazakh authorities 2019 and subsequently forced into exile in the United States after being coerced into holding my first via digital surveillance through to the through their remaining relatives in China and the traffic devices suspected the Chinese operatives operating within Kazakh border. Entire bans of foreign experts and the Kazakh government refused to the scholar Adrian Zenz and the Danish scholar Rune Steenberg entering Kazakhstan. Both of them are the the research based on Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights. The case And also my sister's Patigul Ghulam case, the midnight raid June 25-26, Kazakh law enforcement and the security officials forcibly entered the home of my sister Patigul Ghulam in the village of Saimasai. Authorities >> Okay, wrapping up. We need to have our >> Okay.

[00:20:14]And the my sister is not a human rights activist.

[00:20:18]I just used the her bank account and my supporters sent money via her bank account to me and now she's in prison with very high sensitive cardiological condition and she was threatened by Kazakh KGB and she called me inside the prison, called me in video and she begged me to stop all my activism linked to the the Xinjiang concentration camps and all my activism in America and if I'm not doing that and the Kazakh KGB will sentence her from 3 to 7 years in prison.

[00:20:58]And the secondly the most important why Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights important to America.

[00:21:08]The American foreign policy is based on the human rights issue in China. And the human rights records in China is based on, especially based on Xinjiang concentration camps. And the other way offered 98% of all eyewitness video testimonies.

[00:21:29]And the 95% of the all eyewitness who very Kazakh Kazakhstan uh is very important to America. You know, after the Russian-Ukrainian war, almost 3 to 5 million Russians escaped from Russia and so-called settled in Kazakhstan and they registered the companies and they get the technicals and other things who sanctioned by Western democracies. And the same time, they will have one railway, China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway. And why Iran is continued to fighting against America? How could they get the missiles and other technicals?

[00:22:14]The China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway is is playing a huge role inside. And the Kazakhstan now acting against Western democracies. They sentenced the 19 of our team members who exposed all factors 98 factors of Xinjiang concentration camps. And the my sister, Gulzira Auelkhan, now has a hostage kept in KGB prison of Kazakhstan. So, I respectfully urge the United States governments to direct its attention toward the Kazakhstan and assist the Kazakh population in addressing foreign geo- geopolitical encroachment. Additionally, I appeal for international support to seek secure the immediate release of my sister as well as the detained members of the Atazhum Kazakh Human Rights Organization.

[00:23:12]Thank you very much.

[00:23:13]>> Thank you. Thank you.

[00:23:15]>> Yes.

[00:23:16]Thank you very much.

[00:23:18]Good morning, afternoon, wherever you are. And thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important briefing. It's an honor to be here alongside my distinguished colleagues.

[00:23:29]I've been asked to speak about ongoing human rights abuses and political prisoners in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

[00:23:36]Both countries are becoming increasingly repressive and implementing troubling changes in the human rights sphere.

[00:23:43]Turkmenistan is by far the most repressive government in Central Asia on par with North Korea.

[00:23:49]And Kazakhstan has historically been Freedom House ranking for 2025 is 23 out of 100 with five out of 40 points for political rights and 18 out of 60 for civil liberties.

[00:24:02]Turkmenistan's Freedom House ranking for 2025 is one out of 100. Zero out of 40 points for political rights and one out of 60 for civil liberties.

[00:24:14]In Kazakhstan in the past five years, the overall human rights and political environment has become increasingly repressive.

[00:24:22]Bloody January as the Congressman mentioned, revealed a violent and repressive regime. And to date, many have not received justice for the violence and torture committed by the authorities. Since then, numerous activists, journalists, and human rights defenders have been detained and arrested. Most recently, the so-called reforms to the constitution of Kazakhstan have resulted in substantially negative impacts on civil society organizations and independent media.

[00:24:50]Ratified in March of this year, the new constitution international organizations in the period before the upcoming parliamentary elections in August. And on July 7th, Kazakhstan's top court ruled that President Tokayev could run for another 7-year term when his current term is up, effectively strengthening the executive branch.

[00:25:10]For civil society organizations working on key issues such as fundamental freedoms or environmental concerns, access to information, access to justice, and transparency and accountability remain hard to come by.

[00:25:23]Independent journalists are also under threat in Kazakhstan. A good example is the case of Lukpan Akhmedyarov, an independent journalist who has written about corruption in Kazakhstan for many, many years. For years, he's been repeatedly detained by the Kazakhstani police, most recently in June. During that detention, it became clear that he was also wanted by the Russian authorities for reporting about the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

[00:25:50]Environmental justice issues continue to be critical in Kazakhstan with extractive industries wreaking havoc on local communities, including at the Kokzhida oil field in western Kazakhstan.

[00:26:02]Environmental defenders and local community members seek to protect a massive methane threat to clean water and reverse a mission over 300 wells that are spewing toxins into the air and threatening the aquifer. Crude Accountability has documented exceedances of maximum permissible concentrations at the field that are over 100 [cough] times the limit, placing local communities at great threat for environmental health problems. Repeated efforts to engage with government officials on this issue have been unsuccessful.

[00:26:33]Turning to Turkmenistan, there is no freedom of the press, no freedom of expression or assembly, no fair and free elections, and no functioning judicial system. Civil society is forced underground or out of the country because of draconian laws controlling non-governmental organizations. There is no political opposition, and the government is essentially run by the executive branch, a son-father team in which the son, Serdar Berdimuhamedow, has been forced to disappear.

[00:27:03]The Prove They Are Alive campaign has documented 162 confirmed cases of enforced disappearances, and the actual number is likely much higher. This is not a historic crime, but one that continues.

[00:27:15]According to documentation from Prove They Are Alive, over 30 of the disappeared have served their full terms and have not been released, and there is no official word from the government about their cases. At least 29 individuals have died in custody while forcibly disappeared.

[00:27:33]Turkmenistan also enforces travel bans and engages in extraterritorial repression, working with the governments of other countries, including Turkey, to try to force Turkmen nationals to return to Turkmenistan, where they face likely repression, arrest, and torture, including the threat of disappearance in the notorious prison system.

[00:27:53]There are numerous other human rights violations, but time is short, so I will move on to recommendations.

[00:28:00]One specifically for Turkmenistan, the US should maintain Jackson-Vanik in Turkmenistan. Removing the sanctions at this stage would be perceived at this stage would be perceived as a green light for further repression and for less accountability and transparency.

[00:28:15]Improvements in the country's human rights record must occur before any further openings in that relationship.

[00:28:22]And the US government should support civil society in all five countries in Central Asia as part of its foreign policy.

[00:28:30]Our national security is intertwined with the security and safety of human rights defenders around the world, including in Central Asia.

[00:28:38]Authoritarianism breeds instability, and we must ensure human stability in our engagement with the region. Human rights defenders and members of civil society in the region rely on the international community to uphold international human rights standards, and this includes the United States.

[00:28:58]Supporting Central Asian civil society include ensures that US influence in the region continues, which is critical when considering the growing influence of China and Russia.

[00:29:09]Good governance, including support for civil society, makes for a better investment climate and ensures that responsible investors continue to want to >> two countries.

[00:29:19]Uh I want to thank Chairman McGovern. I want to thank Todd Stein and of course my my courageous co-panelists and activists. Um I also, in addition to my role as a professor at the University of Southern California, I lead an organization called The Detained, and we document uh the conditions of political prisoners around the globe, especially in the former uh Soviet space.

[00:29:39]Um before I get into the three countries, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, I mentioned that um I think what we're talking about here today is a new-found assertiveness in the human rights abuses pattern of violations of human rights in Central Asia continues. Some of the prisoners there that I might mention are um the deputy head of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, which is a democratic party, uh Makhmadali Khait, imprisoned for life. He's been tortured repeatedly. Uh or we can look to imprisoned Pamiri journalist Ulfatkhon Khanim Makhmadshoev, who received over 20 years work with USAID and his internment health, or the imprisoned rights worker Usmon Qayumov, which the Lantos Commission has adopted and promoted, um who has received 28 years on a death sentence that shifted at many times um downward and upward and downward uh slightly. Now, you surfaced designated Tajikistan as a country of particular concern repeatedly, and yet no sanctions have ever been applied, including on the Tajikistan. One of the troubling practices we've seen on political prisoners is the resuscitation of a Soviet era practice of forced psychiatric detention for those that criticize the president or engaging sensitive issues. We have the case of other than Gulag Murad Jurayev, of course. We have the case of who is a blogger that the working group on arbitrary detention has has determined this is an unlawful and arbitrary imprisonment.

[00:31:09]And Shukhrat Akhunov, also worked on the issue of forced evictions in Tashkent. Both have been placed in forced psychiatric detention indefinitely.

[00:31:18]Which is a method that that again sounds like it should be in a history book about the Soviet Union, but it's happening today. If I turn to Kyrgyzstan briefly, I'll mention that this is the case this is the country in the region that has probably experienced the most dramatic transformation, the most dramatic deterioration. And now unfortunately, having once been referred to as the so-called island of democracy, the most the most vibrant media and NGO sector of his wife for 18 months, Muhabbat, which is a which is a case that is just exemplifies how bad things have gotten.

[00:31:52]I'll mention again that I was detained and deported in front of a group of 16 USC students on the 19th. We had gone there several years running for a class on human rights in Central Asia and had meetings with the government to discuss human rights. My students really got a a lesson before their eyes when I was detained and deported and forced back on on a plane. I'm I'll I'll turn quickly then since time is short to my recommendations, which echo I think those of the co-panelists, that the US government and what can Congress do? And of course the US government as a whole should redouble efforts to secure the release of political prisoners by introducing legislation. I understand that there's only been two bills introduced that mention the words human rights in this year in Congress.

[00:32:36]It can introduce legislation that would condition US assistance on improvements in human rights record on human rights abuses and human rights issues in Central Asia, especially with regard >> to comment on whether that is accurate in your experience and and whether you have uh since you spoke to this, what your sort of level of engagement is with with with embassies or with the US embassies in those countries.

[00:33:02]Um and the State Department.

[00:33:08]>> I uh >> Go ahead.

[00:33:09]>> I might start just because I I might start just because of having been in the region, just gotten back from Kazakhstan, I should say, and I wasn't permitted into Kyrgyzstan. It wasn't Kazakhstan, but what I heard from my students uh her studying political science and international relations time and again was that this lack of US support, the absence, the disappearance of USAID, um the message that is sent when Radio Free Europe is not allowed to do its work, uh makes it open season on journalists, on human rights defenders. There was a palpable sense of disillusionment um with what has happened and a feeling of being abandoned among civil society.

[00:33:50]Uh and that's coming from our partners in Kyrgyzstan, like the Bir Duino, a very courageous organization, and others across Kazakhstan. And I think again the political prisoners across Central Asia's jails feel it the worst because uh no one is able to get the word out about the torture that's happening to Azimjan Askarov. Um and I and of course Tajikistan and Turkmenistan remain in sort of total lockdown. So I think what we want to see, what I heard time and time again from human rights defenders is they want the Assistant Secretary of State for rights uh and labor to make these issues uh come to life again. They want to hear high-level US officials raising these issues regularly, um not just behind closed doors, um but publicly and in in writing and in speeches.

[00:34:37]>> Okay, does anyone else have a question?

[00:34:39]Yeah.

[00:34:39]>> Yeah, I have one on that just briefly.

[00:34:40]Just to provide maybe a concrete example of what that change in policy ends up being in in real life. Um, you all may have seen there was a a deal struck uh, last month or this month even on um, rare earth minerals in Kazakhstan, uh, mining for tungsten.

[00:35:00]>> Question.

[00:35:04]If not, we can open it up to our other guests for questions. Does anyone raise your hand for a question?

[00:35:10]>> I would like to ask a question.

[00:35:11]>> Okay, please ask.

[00:35:14]>> About the question you said about C5+1.

[00:35:21]I could answer one with one sentence.

[00:35:24]Becoming a KGB from human being is easy.

[00:35:29]But, becoming a human being from KGB is impossible.

[00:35:34]C5+1 all the Central Asian dictators meet with America. All of them are former KGB and it is impossible let them respect human rights. It is impossible.

[00:35:50]For example, in Kazakhstan, they have a lot of American company. For example, 1.1 billion tungsten project.

[00:35:58]And secondly, is American uh, oil and gas company in Kazakhstan.

[00:36:03]Everybody knows after them they sentenced in the 19 of Kazakh Kazakh human rights activists.

[00:36:10]Let me tell about Beizak Maqsuthan, now in prison in five years prison. And my sister now held in Kazakhstan as a hostage. As hostage. Kazakh KGB called us through my sister said, "Hold. Stop all my activism even I was in America.

[00:36:29]He would control me.

[00:36:31]So, C5+1 is failure.

[00:36:36]It's failure. It is impossible.

[00:36:39]Kazakhstan is now worse than North Korea.

[00:36:43]Kazakhstan already become second Xinjiang. All the scholars who studied the made a research about the Xinjiang concentration camps, now they could go to Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan already becoming Xinjiang.

[00:37:00]>> Thank you so much to the commission to put together this highly important conversation. My question is a little bit um I I would like to hear your thoughts about protecting American interests, protecting American investments uh on this side. On European continent, um there are shifts shifts as well in terms [clears throat] of geopolitical situation. War with Ukraine, where the European city needs a new uh resources to cover their energy needs.

[00:37:32]Uh therefore, visits and the outcome of years by Macron, uh big promises of investments in the regions.

[00:37:40]Uh looking through that lens, how would you protect American interests and American investments of both governments if there are any?

[00:37:49]How would you uh uh guide or what would be advice for this administration, for example?

[00:37:57]Uh how would you uh look at uh protecting American interests while also um promoting human rights, labor standards, uh corporate accountability, and all of >> Could you introduce yourself?

[00:38:13]>> Sure. My name is Jasmine Cameron. I'm a human rights lawyer and uh >> From Kazakhstan?

[00:38:18]>> visiting scholar at the Leiden University.

[00:38:20]>> You work for the government?

[00:38:22]>> No.

[00:38:24]>> And she testified before the committee on ideology.

[00:38:30]>> Yes, so first I want to address earlier question by caller about our work. I used to work with DRL office of the State Department and unfortunately it had it was dissolved and right now it's not clear if human rights even matter at the State Department. It has been really challenging to navigate and I lost my contacts most of them they were laid off at the State Department and back to your question, you know, I think this Central Asian countries they actually think it's a really serious concern in the long run to cooperate with to cooperate with barbaric authoritarian regimes that it will fire back. Maybe it's not as clear right now it's all business but in a matter of years US government will reap what they sow and my recommendation is for them to have string attached is as selling military tools to those authoritarian governments at least they should make sure that it's not used against peaceful descent or also I used to work on US presidential initiative African Global Opportunity Act when certain products from the African countries entered US without customs fees but in order to be eligible for that treaty they have to improve on human rights, freedom of >> I agree completely with with what William said and I I agree completely with with that US business interests are not served when corruption is allowed to flourish in Central Asia. What we have seen in the power of arrest is that those bloggers and journalists and activists that raise issues of government corruption or the members of the presidential families being involved in a lot of these deals are put in prison, which then hinders the ability for US interests to have an accurate understanding of what they're getting into. There's no stability in that market and the court system does not work. My lawyer, who is now defending me on my deportation case in Kyrgyzstan, I think over the long term I think for the US economic objective, which is really worrying. And I I think one thing that I might other recommendation I make to this administration is one thing where we've seen some hope in the last year has been on the release of political prisoners in Russia and in Belarus by this administration's special envoy on political prisoners. So, if we have such close relationships, if we have C5+1, if we have Tokayev and Nazarbayev sitting at the General Assembly on the sidelines with President Trump talking so closely now, then why can't we see that translate into the release of political prisoners across this region? I think that's something that is doable and should happen under this administration. So, back in getting advanced business interests and protecting human rights, I'll mention one last blogger who was in prison on corruption issues was Ablo Kadir Muminov and he's getting getting 7 years for raising issues of corruption.

[00:41:55]That's absurd.

[00:41:57]If the US wants to advance its economic objectives over the long term. So, I hope that >> I thank you so much. I so much apologize, but someone else has the room at 12:30 and we have to be mindful of that.

[00:42:10]Um, I wanted to thank um, all of our guests, uh, our panelists for coming today, uh, and all of our guests for coming.

[00:42:17]Um, we're going to have to leave the room, but I'm happy to uh, facilitate conversations outside. And again, uh, we we welcome your presentation, happy to make it part of the record, and happy to promote these, um, the recommendations.

[00:42:37]>> Thank you.

[00:42:42]>> Um, you