Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: Kazakhstan

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Special Watch List

Kazakhstan

Updated March 2024

Online Engagement with Religious Materials

Sunni Muslims who do not subscribe to the state-sanctioned 

form of Islam are often targeted for their peaceful, online 

religious activities. Unduly restrictive and arbitrarily 

enforced legislation cracking down on so-called “public 

calls for terrorism” and “incitement of religious discord” 

have resulted in fines and prison sentences for expressing 

religious views and posting about Islam, religious texts, 

and sermons.

Anatoli Zernichenko

religion or belief:

Sunni Muslim

arrested:

October 15, 2021

sentence:

7 Years’ Imprisonment

reason for persecution:

Posting religious texts online 

Dilmurat Makhamatov

religion or belief:

Sunni Muslim

arrested:

December 19, 2018

sentence:

8 Years’ Imprisonment

reason for persecution:

Making comments about Islam that were later 

posted online by another individual

Dadash Mazhenov

religion or belief:

Sunni Muslim

arrested:

April 23, 2018

sentence:

7 Years, 8 Months’ Imprisonment

reports of torture:

Yes

reason for persecution:

Posting religious content online

Galymzhan Abilkairov

religion or belief: Sunni Muslim

arrested: April 23, 2018

sentence: 7 Years, 7 Months’ Imprisonment

reason for persecution: Posting sermons 

about Islam online

Abdukhalil Abduzhabbarov

religion or belief: Sunni Muslim

arrested: February 18, 2017

sentence: 8 Years’ Imprisonment

reason for persecution: Giving sermons 

and religious talks

WhatsApp Group Discussion on Islam

In 2018, authorities arrested nine individuals on bogus 

charges of inciting religious discord and promoting 

terrorism for their participation in a peaceful, online 

WhatsApp discussion on Islam. Despite a 2021 UN Working 

Group on Arbitrary Detention decision calling for their 

release, three individuals remain in prison.

Beket Mynbasov

religion or belief:

Sunni Muslim

arrested:

October 27, 2018

sentence:

7 Years, 6 Months’ Imprisonment

Ernar Samatov

religion or belief:

Sunni Muslim

arrested:

October 27, 2018

sentence:

7 Years, 6 Months’ Imprisonment

FoRB Victims List Stats

16 out of 2,282

Religion or Belief # of Victims

Sunni 15

Jehovah’s Witness 1

Total 16

Type of Abuse # of Victims

Imprisoned 16

Total 16

Average Prison Sentence

6 Years, 8 Months

Reports of # of Victims

Torture 2

Medical Neglect 0

Total 2
Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: Kazakhstan

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Special Watch List

Kazakhstan

Updated March 2024

Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List Background

The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), as amended by the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016, 

requires USCIRF to:

make publicly available, to the extent practicable...lists of persons it determines are imprisoned or detained, have 

disappeared, been placed under house arrest, been tortured, or subjected to forced renunciation of faith for their religious 

activity or religious freedom advocacy by the government of a foreign country that the Commission recommends for 

designation as a country of particular concern [CPC]...or by a nonstate actor that the Commission recommends for 

designation as an entity of particular concern [EPC]. 

USCIRF developed the Frank R. Wolf Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Victims List—an online public database—to implement this 

provision for countries USCIRF recommends for Country of Particular Concern (CPC) or Special Watch List (SWL) status. The list also 

includes such victims located in the de facto territories of nonstate actors that USCIRF recommends for Entity of Particular Concern (EPC) 

status, according to the same criteria.

Due to limited resources, USCIRF is unable to identify and document all victims that meet the statutory requirement to be included on 

the FoRB Victims List and generally relies on receiving submissions from outside individuals and organizations. As such, the information 

contained in the database does not reflect country, regional, or global trends. Furthermore, percentages highlighted in this section should 

not be used for extrapolation purposes nor interpreted as a particular group experiencing greater violations than another or a particular 

country committing violations at a greater rate than others. To support this project, USCIRF invites those with credible information on 

victims to submit information using the Victims List Intake Form at www.uscirf.gov/form/uscirf-victims-list-intake-form. 

FoRB Victims List Stats Overall

Perpetrator Victims Documented

Algeria 5 

Azerbaijan 11 

Burma 5 

China 798 

Cuba 11 

Egypt 18 

Eritrea 61

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) 2 

Houthis 3 

India 55 

Indonesia 9 

Iran 351 

Iraq 2 

Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) 1 

Kazakhstan 16 

Malaysia 4 

Nicaragua 68 

Nigeria 9 

North Korea 11 

Pakistan 87 

Russia 488 

Saudi Arabia 50 

Sri Lanka 1 

Tajikistan 16 

Turkmenistan 31 

Uzbekistan 88 

Vietnam 81 

Total 2,282 

Religion or Belief Victims Documented

Adivasi 1 

Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light 3

Baha’i 169 

Bon 1 

Buddhist – Hoa Hao 6 

Buddhist – Theravada 3 

Buddhist – Tibetan 93 

Buddhist – Unspecified/Other 32 

Christian – Catholic 79 

Christian – Church of Almighty God 240 

Christian – Jehovah’s Witness 283

Christian – Orthodox 21 

Christian – Protestant 150 

Christian – Unspecified/Other 65 

Duong Van Minh 4 

ECKist (Eckankar) 1 

Erfan-e Halgheh Practitioner 3 

Falun Gong 217

Hindu 10 

Humanist 1 

Jewish 1 

Muslim – Ahmadiyya 20

Muslim – Qur’anist 1 

Muslim – Shi’a 40 

Muslim – Sufi 64 

Muslim – Sunni 412 

Muslim – Unspecified/Other 233

Santeria 5 

Scientologist 1 

Shaman 1 

Sikh 1 

Yarsani 38 

Unknown/Unspecified 83

Total 2,282
Frank R. Wolf FoRB Victims List: Kazakhstan

www.uscirf.gov/victims-list

USCIRF Recommended for Special Watch List

Kazakhstan

Updated March 2024

Not Released

Anatoli Zernichenko 

Dadash Mazhenov 

Abdukhalil Abduzhabbarov 

Galymzhan Abilkairov 

Dilmurat Makhamatov 

Beket Mynbasov 

Ernar Samatov 

Released

Daniil Smal 

Nariman Seytzhanov 

Zhuldyzbek Taurbekov 

Azamat Umbetaliyev 

Esim Suleimenov 

Zhasulan Iskakov 

Samat Adilov 

Nazim Abdrakhmanov 

Bolatbek Nurgaliyev