serving a five-year sentence. He remained WORKERS’ RIGHTS subject to three years of “administrative Despite reforms in 2020 that made supervision”, which restricts his rights to registration of trade unions easier, some freedom of peaceful assembly, expression still faced disproportionate bureaucratic 1 and association. hurdles. On 5 February, the Specialized Inter- district Economic Court in Shymkent RIGHT TO PRIVACY suspended the independent Industrial Trade Union of Fuel and Energy Workers for six The mobile devices of at least four months for failing to register in accordance Kazakhstani activists were targeted and with the restrictive trade union law. infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT from June. The four were members of the 2 youth movement Oyan, Qazaqstan. According to the report of the National FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY Preventative Mechanism (NPM) for the prevention of torture published in 2021, 63 Requests to hold demonstrations were reports of torture were registered in 2020 and frequently denied under overly restrictive 13 individuals were sentenced. The NPM legislation. According to human rights also noted the poor conditions in detention monitors, between July 2020 and October facilities. Many facilities were inadequately 2021, 133 applications to local authorities in heated during the winter, food was 22 cities were arbitrarily refused. Of those, inadequate and there was a severe shortage 103 were in 2021. Peaceful demonstrators of medical staff, who continued to be were subjected to ill-treatment and “kettling”, employed by the Penitentiary Administration. amounting to arbitrary detention by law On 15 October, a court in Öskemen enforcement officers. sentenced seven prison guards to between On 10 January, a group of about 12 five and 10 years’ imprisonment for torturing peaceful demonstrators were surrounded by 25-year-old Andrei Kondratenko. He died in police officers and forced to stand outside in prison on 18 July 2019 after being tortured sub-zero temperatures for over nine hours by prison guards. A witness testified that before being released. They were not given guards held his head underwater and access to a toilet or food and drink. One deprived him of sleep; the witness also woman was taken to hospital suffering from testified that guards then forced other hypothermia. prisoners to take Andrei Kondratenko’s body FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION to the punishment cell and make it appear that he had hanged himself. In January, three NGOs – the Kazakhstani RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES International Bureau for Human Rights, the International Legal Initiative and Echo, an People with mental disabilities continued to election monitoring group – were arbitrarily be deprived of legal capacity by the courts, suspended for three months, and NGO and thereby of their human rights, including Erkindik Kanaty was fined under restrictive the rights to education, a private life, to vote tax regulations. All had been notified in and to stand for office. In July, the OSCE November 2020 that they had purportedly recommended that all restrictions on the right violated Article 460-1 of the Code on to vote and stand for office should be lifted Administrative Violations for failing to properly and that Kazakhstan introduce laws and report on foreign funds each had received, in policies allowing people with disabilities to some cases dating back to 2018. access support in exercising their legal capacity rather than being deprived of it. Amnesty International Report 2021/22 219