Justice - The Times Of Central Asia

Viewing results 13 - 18 of 638

Military Deaths

Kazakhstan Defense Ministry Inspection Leads to 13 Criminal Cases in Wake of Soldiers’ Deaths

A comprehensive inspection of Kazakhstan’s Defense Ministry has resulted in 13 criminal cases involving suspected theft of state property, abuse of office, and other violations. The inspection follows the deaths of 14 servicemen during military exercises in the Caspian Sea on September 24. On October 5, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev heard the inspection's initial findings. The commission found serious shortcomings in the preparation and planning of the exercises, risk assessment, organization of the landing operation, and measures to ensure the servicemen’s safety. Criminal cases also concern hazing and violence against servicemen. The tragedy was followed by a reshuffle at the top of the defense establishment. On September 27, Aidos Myrzakhmetov became defense minister, replacing Dauren Kosanov, who was dismissed the same day. Myrzakhmetov had spent much of his career in the State Guard Service, the agency responsible for protecting the president and other designated officials. On October 3, Tokayev dismissed First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff Kanysh Abubakirov, Deputy Defense Minister Almaz Dzhumakeyev, and Navy Commander-in-Chief Kanat Niyazbekov. On October 5, another former senior State Guard Service officer, Aitkurman Omarbekov, was appointed First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff. Former navy commander Kanat Niyazbekov was detained on October 6 on suspicion of negligence in connection with the deaths, with a court authorizing his arrest, according to the Interior Ministry. But the president did not stop at personnel changes. Following the deaths of the marines, he ordered the preparation of a Military Reform Plan and delivered one of his harshest public assessments of the armed forces in years. “Our army is stuck in the last century… the command system must be completely rebuilt in line with advanced international practice,” Tokayev said on September 27. He described the deaths of servicemen in peacetime as the result of what he called “essentially criminal unprofessionalism by officers, including generals.” Public Anger After the Caspian Tragedy Political analyst Daniyar Ashimbayev wrote that the deaths of the servicemen in the Mangystau region triggered “a very strong and emotional reaction in the country,” amplified by what he called the “traditionally clumsy actions” of the military bureaucracy. “Rumors, gossip, fakes, and openly provocative content quickly began to emerge. Nor should we forget that the emergency occurred in the most difficult region,” he wrote, referring to the history of protests in oil-producing Mangystau. The public reaction was particularly intense because of the circumstances surrounding the soldiers’ deaths. The Khazar Qorgany 2026 exercises were taking place in Kazakhstan’s sector of the Caspian Sea. During a training mission, 17 servicemen were swept out to sea; three were rescued. For some of those who died, these were the final days of their compulsory military service. Deputy Navy Commander Arman Satkanov said some had as little as eight days left before returning home, with their tickets already purchased. Five members of the military command were detained on September 25 on suspicion of negligence and violations of navigation rules. They included the Navy chief of staff and first...

Ukrainian Childen

Ukrainian Woman Detained in Astana at Russia’s Request

Ukrainian citizen Lyubov Rozhanska has been detained at Astana airport at Russia’s request in connection with a criminal case over an alleged attempt to abduct a child, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported. She had flown from Istanbul to collect her grandson. Ukraine has called for her release and opposed her possible transfer to Russia. Rozhanska was detained on October 1 while passing through border control. She is currently being held in a pretrial detention facility in Astana, her Kazakhstan-based lawyer Riza Nurbayeva told DW. A court is expected to consider whether she should remain in custody. According to Nurbayeva and Russian lawyer Alexei Pryanishnikov, the criminal case against Rozhanska concerns her grandson, who was born in 2018. Ukraine’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, Viktor Maiko, described the actions of the Russian security services as an “outright provocation.” “The embassy is already working with our Kazakh colleagues to secure Ms. Rozhanska’s release as quickly as possible. We categorically oppose the unfounded demands of the Federal Security Service to deport her to Russia, where there is a real threat to her health and life,” Maiko said in a statement issued by the Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan on October 2. The Russian authorities have not publicly responded to the ambassador’s statement. The case stems from a dispute over where the child should live. In 2021, his mother, Alla Andreeva, traveled with him from Odesa to Russia’s Kaliningrad region. In 2022, they obtained Russian citizenship. In March 2025, Ukraine’s Supreme Court ruled that the boy should live with his father in Odesa. In the summer of 2026, according to the defense, relatives of the mother’s second husband offered to hand the child over to his father and grandmother. A meeting was arranged in Astana, where Rozhanska traveled from Turkey. By then, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, was already investigating a criminal case against her, opened in 2023, according to Nurbayeva. By August 27, the Central District Court of Kaliningrad had authorized Rozhanska’s detention. Nurbayeva said Rozhanska was unaware of the criminal proceedings and had never previously traveled to Russia. The defense believes the circumstances surrounding the trip to Kazakhstan were deliberately arranged to facilitate Rozhanska’s detention. There has been no confirmation of this account from the authorities in Kazakhstan or Russia. Maiko linked the case to the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia and Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova over the alleged unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children. This case concerns a child whose mother took him to Russia in 2021, before the full-scale invasion. Moscow denies abducting children and says they were moved from combat zones for their safety.

Religious Freedom

Why Central Asian Governments Are Regulating Religious Life

Kyrgyzstan is requiring bloggers and other social media users who publicly preach religion online to obtain a special certificate. The website of the National Agency for Religious Affairs and Interethnic Relations includes an application form for registration as a “religious preacher.” Nurgazy Kyrgyzbaev, a chief specialist at the agency, announced the measure on local radio. He said the requirement stems from the country’s new religion law, which introduced the legal category of “religious preacher.” “People who want to publicly call others to religion must obtain a special certificate. Their religious education will be considered first and foremost. Recently, people have appeared online who call themselves bloggers and create religious content,” Kyrgyzbaev said, adding that their religious qualifications had previously gone unchecked. This, he argued, created a risk of inaccurate or misleading religious information being spread. Under the new system, applicants must have higher or secondary religious education and obtain the consent of the relevant central religious authority before registering with the agency. For Muslim applicants, this means approval from the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan, or Muftiate. Kyrgyzbaev said Muftiate employees engaged in preaching are automatically treated as religious preachers. Kyrgyzstan has traditionally allowed greater religious diversity than most of its Central Asian neighbors, including a wider range of Islamic movements. It remains the only country in the region where Tablighi Jamaat and the Nurcular movement can operate legally. Tablighi Jamaat, for example, is banned as extremist in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Religious Freedom Concerns Across the Region Central Asia has long attracted criticism from international religious-freedom monitors. In its 2026 annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended that the U.S. State Department place Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan on its Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom. It recommended that Tajikistan and Turkmenistan be designated Countries of Particular Concern, a higher category reserved under U.S. law for governments accused of particularly severe violations. According to USCIRF, Tajik authorities continued to use the country’s law on traditions and ceremonies to regulate religious life, including through fines and public campaigns. After amendments adopted in 2024 prohibited the import, sale, promotion, and wearing of clothing deemed “alien to national culture,” authorities also campaigned against what they described as foreign styles of dress. USCIRF and other religious-freedom monitors have reported even tighter state control in Turkmenistan, where religious activity outside officially approved structures remains heavily restricted. Reports have described pressure on religious leaders to provide information to the authorities about believers practicing outside state-sanctioned forms of Islam. USCIRF has argued that Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, like other Central Asian states, apply extremism laws to religious practices that involve neither violence nor incitement. Religion Moves Online in Kazakhstan In Kazakhstan, as in Kyrgyzstan, mosques are no longer necessarily the primary source of religious knowledge for younger people. At independence in 1991, Kazakhstan had only 68 mosques. The Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan reported 2,945 functioning mosques at the beginning of 2026. The expansion reflects the extraordinary revival of...

Kashagan Oil Field

Kazakhstan Resumes Collection of $5.2 Billion Kashagan Fine

Kazakhstan has restarted enforcement proceedings to collect a 2.3 trillion tenge ($5.22 billion) environmental fine from North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), operator of the Kashagan oil field, ending a three-week procedural pause. The proceedings resumed on September 29, according to the Justice Ministry’s online enforcement database. NCOC continues to reject both the allegations behind the fine and the penalty itself, and says it is challenging them through available legal channels. Collection had been suspended on September 7 after NCOC challenged the actions of a state enforcement officer. The Specialized Interdistrict Administrative Court of Atyrau Region requested the enforcement case materials, which required the collection process to stop while the documents were before the court. The Justice Ministry said at the time that the pause was procedural and that collection would resume. The court later rejected NCOC’s claim seeking to overturn the enforcement proceedings. The ruling was reported on September 28, and the enforcement status changed to active on the following day. The fine stems from a 2022 environmental inspection at Kashagan’s onshore facilities in the Atyrau Region that identified about ten alleged violations. Inspectors said more than 1.7 million metric tons of sulfur had accumulated at the Bolashak processing complex, while the operator’s permit allowed storage of no more than 730,000 tons. NCOC has maintained that its sulfur handling complied with Kazakh law and the permits issued for the project. Internal documents reported earlier by The Times of Central Asia showed that Eni had warned as early as 2017 that the project risked exceeding its permitted sulfur-storage capacity. The dispute has moved through several rounds of domestic litigation. The original penalty order was overturned in 2025 because of procedural defects, without dismissing the underlying environmental allegations. Regulators then reissued the penalty. The Atyrau Regional Court upheld the fine on June 19, clearing the way for compulsory enforcement after NCOC did not pay by the July deadline. Kazakhstan then stepped up pressure on the consortium. Enforcement proceedings began in July, and authorities froze NCOC property and vehicles. The company’s managing director was also warned of possible administrative and criminal liability for failure to comply with the court ruling. The domestic enforcement process is running alongside international arbitration. NCOC’s six foreign shareholders have challenged the penalty through treaty arbitration. Separately, NCOC said in July that a tribunal operating under the rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law had issued interim measures barring enforcement while that arbitration remained pending. Kazakhstan’s Justice Ministry rejected NCOC’s interpretation of the interim order. It argued that the commercial arbitration tribunal could not prevent the state from enforcing environmental law and a final domestic court judgment. NCOC has continued to maintain that enforcement should not proceed while the arbitration is unresolved. Kashagan is one of Kazakhstan’s largest oil fields and one of the biggest oil discoveries of recent decades. Recoverable reserves are estimated at between 9 billion and 13 billion barrels. The field produced 18.2 million tons of oil in 2025. The consortium brings together...

Child Protection

Uzbekistan Considers Life Imprisonment for Child Sexual Offenses

Uzbekistan is considering life imprisonment for rape and certain other violent sexual offenses involving children under the age of 14. A bill introducing this penalty and other measures to protect minors has passed its first reading in the lower house of parliament. The Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis approved the bill on September 29. It proposes lengthy prison terms or life imprisonment for these offenses. Under current law, the rape of a child under 14 is punishable by 15 to 20 years in prison. The proposed amendments would also eliminate certain limitation periods for sexual offenses against children, preventing offenders from avoiding criminal liability or punishment because the prescribed period has expired. During the parliamentary debate, lawmaker Gulrukh Agzamova said 445 criminal cases involving the rape of children under 14 had been opened in Uzbekistan between 2022 and 2025. Under the proposed changes, questioning of child victims would be video-recorded, while face-to-face confrontations between a child and a suspect or defendant would be conducted under a special procedure. If someone close to the child is suspected of violence, additional safeguards would apply. A guardian or a state body responsible for protecting the child’s rights and interests would then be required to participate in the investigation and court proceedings. Child victims and minor witnesses would also be provided with state-funded legal assistance. The bill was debated amid public outrage over a case involving the alleged sexual assault of a five-year-old girl at a state kindergarten in the Uchqurgan district of the eastern Namangan region. The case has revived debate over the death penalty in Uzbekistan. On September 27, Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of the Presidential Administration, called for capital punishment for such crimes. The death penalty is prohibited by Uzbekistan’s Constitution, meaning its reinstatement would require a constitutional amendment. The push for tougher penalties, however, predates the high-profile case in Namangan. Uzbekistan’s Strategy for Protecting Children from All Forms of Violence for 2026-2030 includes proposals to increase penalties for sexual crimes against children under 14, up to life imprisonment. Following its first reading, the bill will continue through the parliamentary process.

Counter-Terrorism

Uzbek-U.S. Citizen Extradited from Georgia on Charges of Supporting ISIS and al-Nusrah Front

Davud Ansariy, an Uzbek citizen who is also a naturalized U.S. citizen, has been extradited from Georgia to New York. U.S. prosecutors accuse him of leading a network that raised money to support ISIS and the al-Nusrah Front and helped aspiring fighters travel to Syria. Ansariy, 41, also known as Kozimjon Gafurov and Kozim, was arrested in Tbilisi in August 2026 and extradited to the United States on September 23. He faces one count of conspiracy to provide material support and one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and the al-Nusrah Front, both designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations at the time of the alleged conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 35 years in prison. The alleged conduct dates back more than a decade. According to prosecutors, Ansariy led a group based primarily in Brooklyn whose members either planned to travel to Syria to join ISIS or the al-Nusrah Front or helped finance such trips. Participants referred to the group as “chayxona,” an Uzbek word meaning “tea house” or “tea party.” Prosecutors allege that money collected through the network was used to pay for the travel of aspiring fighters to Syria and to support families left behind by those who traveled there, as well as the families of those killed while fighting. According to prosecutors, these collections helped finance the travel of at least three people to Syria in 2013. All three are believed to have been killed there. Investigators also link the network to Akhror Saidakhmetov, who was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport on February 25, 2015, while attempting to board a flight to Istanbul. According to court filings, the “chayxona” collections raised money for Saidakhmetov’s planned journey. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Ansariy left the United States for Turkey in May 2016, buying a one-way ticket the day before his departure. He left five days after one of his alleged co-conspirators was arrested on May 11 and did not return to the United States until his extradition this month. A federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicted Ansariy in November 2021. Georgian authorities arrested him after he traveled from Uzbekistan to Tbilisi in August 2026. Ansariy pleaded not guilty on September 24 and was held without bail, the New York Post reported.