Amid a widening crackdown on the political opposition in oil-rich Kazakhstan, Western governments are voicing concern over the detention and subsequent hunger strike of a widely respected critic of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Sergei Duvanov, a journalist and human-rights activist, was detained Oct. 28 and formally charged Nov. 7 with raping a 14-year-old girl, an allegation he says security agents trumped up to discredit him. He was force-fed after 10 days of refusing to eat or drink.
The detention came the day before Duvanov was to depart for the United States, where he planned to speak on press freedom. The case is a sore point in Kazakhstan’s relations with the United States, which considers the former Soviet republic an ally in Central Asia.
Arrest follows harassment
Yevgheny Zhovtis, director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights, described Duvanov as “active” and “focusing on his defense.”
His arrest followed months of harassment. In August, security agents investigating charges that he was “infringing the honor and dignity” of the president searched his home and office, confiscating several computers. Soon thereafter he was beaten by unknown attackers.
The U.S. government, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the European Union have expressed concern about Duvanov’s detention. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the U.S. government’s “primary concern is that any legal process against him be carried out in a fair, transparent and open manner.”
Duvanov’s arrest has received limited attention on Kazakhstan’s state-owned television station and the most widely circulated newspapers, reportedly controlled by the president’s daughter, Dariga.
Duvanov’s arrest is the latest in a series of legal harassment and physical attacks on opposition outlets.
Earlier this year, an independent television station’s cables were severed; one newspaper’s office workers were beaten and its computers stolen; and, in a widely reported incident, a decapitated dog was left at an editor’s front door with a note of warning, and later her newspaper’s offices were set on fire.
Television stations and newspapers have been forced to shut down based on minor license irregularities.
These actions followed the acknowledgment by Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov before parliament of a Swiss fund worth $1 billion controlled by Nazarbayev. The prime minister said the fund was created to stabilize the economy in an emergency. The monies were a product of the 1996 agreement with Chevron for a share in the development of the vast Tengiz oil field in the Caspian Sea.
Some see the prime minister’s public acknowledgment, which came after prodding by journalists, as the impetus of the crackdown. However, the story of the Swiss funds is not new, and the president’s vast personal wealth has never been a secret.
Many suggest that Nazarbayev, long considered the most benign and adept of the rulers of the former Soviet republics, felt compelled to move aggressively against dissent after the creation of an opposition movement, Democratic Choice, in late 2001.
Democratic Choice was founded by several businessmen within the government who had been allied with Nazarbayev. One owned several media outlets. Two soon were fired from their government posts, and both were convicted on a variety of charges and jailed earlier this year.
Many suspect that Nazarbayev may feel emboldened by the nation’s enhanced stature in the region, where the U.S. has considerable political, military and economic interests.
Kazakhstan’s substantial reserves of oil have attracted billions in foreign investment. American corporations alone have invested $6 billion.
Economy doing well
The economy is doing well — the GDP grew 13.2 percent in 2001. And Kazakhstan has good relations with its powerful neighbors, Russia and China.
The beneficiaries of the oil wealth, described by most as the “mafia,” are those closest to the president. The average income in this largely agricultural nation is less than $150 a month.
Nazarbayev, the former communist president of the Soviet republic, is the only leader the nation has known since independence in 1991.
He has consistently been hailed by all sides for his adroit political skills and keen ability to balance competing interests.
Until the founding of Democratic Choice, there has been little organized opposition to him.
Nazarbayev has said that the lack of democratic tradition and a history of regional subjugation means that democracy must be introduced gradually, and that those who have been punished are criminals posing as political dissidents.
