Читать книгу Kazakhstan's Assassinated Democracy - Yerzhan Psy.D. Dosmukhamedov - Страница 15

Svobodnaya Asia (Kazakhstan)

3 November 2007

Dr. Dosmukhamedov, on 27 October it will be one year since the Atameken Founding Convention took place. Let me begin by noting that some commentators have questions concerning the fate of the Atameken Party. At what stage is the party's registration now?

At the recent Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe conference in Warsaw, the Central electoral Commission of Kazakhstan released an official document that specifically expressed the state's position concerning the question of registering our party. It is said that no unauthorized citizens received party registration documents. The documents are now believed to be in the Ministry of Justice. I emphasize that without exception, all international organizations accept me as the party Chairman truly independent of the authoritarian regime party, supported by ordinary citizens and independent non-government organizations in the country. At the conference in Warsaw, I was invited and registered as the leader of the Atameken Party.

The OSCE, the European Parliament, the U.S.A. and other OSCE member countries know the real reasons for my forced departure from the country - that alone is a violation of my fundamental human rights - and the reasons for delays in party registration. At the meeting with OSCE leaders and the leaders of the delegations from the democratic countries, registration of our party was one of the principal conditions for considering the question of Kazakhstan's chairmanship of OSCE. In general, it is considered an indication of real progress towards democracy. Thus my colleagues in the party, myself as its Chairman, and international organizations demand immediate party registration. Cheap tricks and dirty stunts played by the President's Administration and National Security Committee officials are annoying the people of Kazakhstan and international community.

Your recent statement attracted the attention of the Kazakhstan community and caused shock.

Frankly speaking, I was shocked myself on receiving the information. Alongside the published audio materials, the newly revealed facts cause colossal harm to the international image of our country. They reveal a rather base level of political thinking among high-ranking political officials, the complete absence of either a modern way of thinking or of any sincere wish to develop democracy in our post-Communist country. It has become evident that the laws have been created only for ordinary citizens and not for the power holders.

For instance, the statements by the ex-Secretary of the National Security Council and ex-head of the National Committee for Democratization, Bulat Utemuratov, show an utter disregard for public opinion, press freedom, democratic development and for the country's future as a whole. Why was a person - who is still bound by the thinking of a grocery man - appointed to the state post that bestows him with the responsibility for democratic development? It is now clear for all who read and listened his statements that he should work on the improvement of his general culture and in particular culture of his speech.

I also consider outrageous the behaviour of [Vladimir] Ni, who wrecked the career of many decent Kazakh politicians and state employees. Who is he? A person no more intellectually advanced than Utemuratov. earlier he maintained curtains, bed sheets, brooms, underwear and other facilities for the head of state, and now he manages a commercial enterprise. But at the same time he behaves like Rasputin, barking out orders and instructions for the Minister of Internal Affairs. He easily saved [Vladimir] Kim from criminal prosecution. It is obvious from the audiofiles that Kim's connection with the criminal underworld is known to the Minister of Internal Affairs, but he gently suggested to Mr. Ni that his protege should quit his association with the criminals.

Doesn't this remind you of the Theatre of the Absurd? In what country do we live? What social and political system do we have thanks to our post-Communist elite? What is the people's place in the process of creating such a system? Will they be masters of the house or just bricks holding up the monarch's palace, decorative furniture propping up the performance or building debris piled on the dustbin of history? Our Internet sites are blocked. I think it signifies that the President's Administration understands the bird has flown the coop, and the country is on the verge of a political crisis because society's cohesive glue is evaporating, undermining the building blocks beneath its feet - trust and confidence - that bind people to government authority. This lack of cohesion - due to separation through force, prisons and torture - causes even the most authoritative regimes to be merely fleeting structures. Look, it is no accident that even the openly anti-populist military junta in Burma strived to gain a minimal legitimacy among its estranged people through the restoration of Buddhist temples.

How is the investigation proceeding concerning the facts mentioned by you in a recent interview?

As I know from Western mass media, presently an investigation is being carried out to bring a criminal case against those citizens of Kazakhstan under suspicion.

Considering yesterday's article published in the British newspaper The Independent (which in the past began an investigation into the case of the Ukrainian journalist [Georgiy] Gongadze), I would like to ask [Nurtay] Abykayev: why did he come to Klagenfurt? Did he need the fresh air, or to get an order for Altynbek Sarsenbayev's murder? Why, during a telephone conversation, did [Adilbek] Zhaksybekov inform him about the details of [Yerzhan] Utembayev's interrogation, as well as the interrogation in the lawyer's presence? Why was [Rustam] Ibragimov's evidence about Utembayev's conversation in the President's presence in Austria excluded from the case? Why did the chief of the President's Administration have access to information pertaining to the investigation, and why did he inform Abykayev in his turn, whose chief of staff was the main whipping boy in the case? Is there any rule like this in the Code of Criminal Procedure of Kazakhstan? Why did Zhaksybekov instruct Abykayev to fall ill on the day of the joint chamber session in Parliament and assured him that Kommerceskiyi Televizioniyi Kanal (KTK TV) television would stop informing the community about the investigation progress? Did he as an official then do his level best to prevent the information from spreading through this channel? Was it so important for the country's Senate chairman? Why? especially if he, as was announced everywhere, had nothing to do with the crime committed?

If all these persons value the image of the country and its democratic future, I demand they answer these questions so that the republic will not be put in a shameful and awkward position before European justice and the international community.

As the leader of an unregistered political party, what is your opinion in relation to ex-Ambassador Rakhat Aliyev's announcement in the Western mass media concerning the head of state's involvement in the murder of the opposition leader, Altynbek Sarsenbayev?

I would like to emphasize that everything happening in Kazakhstan today has prompted an acutely negative reaction in the international democratic community. The country's reputation has been greatly damaged. Facts concerning the gross violation of both constitutional and basic international human rights are evident. The repressive nature of the state machinery in Kazakhstan has manifested itself not merely through its pseudo-democratic but also its openly anti-democratic course of reforms. In connection with the present events and in the name of the party whose registration has already been pending for 10 months, I protest the increasing limitation of democratic rights and freedom in our country. I insist that an intelligible reply be given to the international mass media and the world community concerning the head of state's participation in the murder of Altynbek Sarsenbayev. I guess the President's decision to ignore this situation, alongside the increasing repression and limitations placed on democratic freedom, speak louder than any words. If the fact of the President's participation in the murder has taken place, Citizen Nazarbayev must resign immediately.

Interviewed by Kairat Sadvakasov