{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreieyjefjjknak6zged3rjdfthn7np4tp74hdouxfobxbavv7jr3l54",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:av64nrsc7sczp26nmabnikse/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjphxqyajkw2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreibbd2ke5rze7h7enansklpvcebnvl5oue66thb2nylepqlwgsgpvq"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 694403
  },
  "path": "/english/69082-the-week-in-kazakhstan-friendly-justice.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-17T16:34:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://vlast.kz",
  "tags": [
    "Vlast English"
  ],
  "textContent": "A new political party is seeking registration in Kazakhstan after the creation of the Adilet (“Justice”) initiative group on April 15. The group, which consists of 16 people from government-friendly civil society organizations, media, and business, said they want to put the new Constitution into practice. In the past decade, Kazakhstan’s authorities have repeatedly denied registration to a number of political groups and only allowed two loyalist parties to register in 2023 right before the previous parliamentary elections.\n\nKazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he agreed with his US counterpart Donald Trump that the UN Security Council needs reform. On April 17, Tokayev participated in the Antalya Diplomatic Forum in Turkey. Tokayev, formerly a deputy Secretary-General, is rumored to be in the running for the top UN job, as Antonio Guterres’ term runs until the end of 2026.\n\nDeputies Konstantin Avershin and Abzal Kuspan said on April 15 that the current debates on the legitimacy of the proposed new measure to kill unclaimed stray dogs aim to “divide society and sow social discord.” Animal rights activists have called on the legislators to withdraw the bill and will hold a protest rally on April 18 in Arkalyk, in the northern Kostanai region.\n\nKazakhstan’s trade balance worsened in 2025, compared to the previous year, according to data published by the Central Bank on April 14. The current account deficit grew to $12.5 billion ($6.8 billion in 2024). Trade surplus fell by 37% year-on-year, after the value of exported goods decreased by 1.2% (to $77.3 billion) and the value of imports increased by 9% (to $66.3 billion).\n\nKazakhstan’s oil production fell sharply in the first quarter of the year due to “the situation concerning the CPC and Tengiz,” energy minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said on April 14. In the first three months of 2026, Kazakhstan produced 19.7 million tons, down 19.8% year-on-year, and exported 15.3 million tons, down 21.5%. [_Read more here_.]\n\nThe North Caspian Operating Consortium lost another appeal against a $5 billion environmental fine, Bloomberg reported on April 17. A court in Astana upheld on April 8 an earlier decision to punish the consortium of oil majors developing the Kashagan field for storing excessive amounts of sulfur at the field. The offshore Kashagan field is Kazakhstan’s second-largest oil field. [_Read more about the fine here_.]\n\nOn April 15, Kazakhstan’s government filed a request to the World Trade Organization regarding contested import duties in Indonesia. The WTO dispute consultations concern “additional ad valorem import duties on hot-rolled steel coils originating from Kazakhstan.” This marks Kazakhstan’s first complaint within the WTO dispute settlement system.\n\nTokayev met with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Bukhara on April 11 and said that Kazakhstan will join Uzbekistan’s “Clean Air” initiative. “I share your concern about the environmental conditions in Tashkent. We are facing a very difficult situation in Almaty,” Tokayev said, noting the enduring problem of air pollution in Kazakhstan’s largest city. [_Read more about air pollution in Kazakhstan in this section_.]\n\nAs a result of the new Tax Code, around 350,000 citizens have “legalized” their fiscal position, according to the ministry of finance. During a government meeting on April 14, minister Madi Takiyev said that the number of self-employed citizens increased by more than 200,000 to 2.7 million.\n\nKazakhstan plans to increase the minimum wage to 150,000 tenge ($320), but “it depends on the budget’s capacity,” vice-minister of economy Azamat Amrin told the press on April 14. Last November, minister Serik Zhumangarin said that the government will only consider raising the minimum wage from 2027-2028. The current minimum wage is set at 85,000 tenge.\n\nA special economic zone in Astana has attracted 70% of the total investment in all of Kazakhstan’s SEZs, the ministry of industry said on April 17. For the past 25 years, Kazakhstan’s 17 SEZs have attracted 558 investment projects, for a total of 10.8 trillion tenge ($22.9 billion). In February, Tokayev had said that the current SEZ model is “outdated.”\n\nThe Financial Monitoring Agency said on April 14 that it opened a pre-trial investigation into Azamat Kapenov, the former vice president of KazTemirTrans JSC, who is suspected of abuse of office and embezzlement. Kapenov was placed on the international wanted list.\n\nA court in south-eastern Kazakhstan sentenced a number of activists connected to the unregistered Atajurt party on April 13. Last week, their lawyer said they were being charged for up to five years in prison for “inciting interethnic discord.” The sentence, related to 19 citizens of Kazakhstan who protested against the detention of their chairman Alimnur Turgunbai in China, reflected the demands of the prosecutors. On April 17, Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, expressed concern over the sentences.\n\nSix international press freedom and human rights organizations wrote a letter to Tokayev on April 13, expressing concern over a wave of journalist detentions and growing pressure on the media. The Committee to Protect Journalists, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the International Partnership for Human Rights, Civil Rights Defenders, the International Press Institute, and Freedom For Eurasia co-signed the letter.\n\nThe UN Human Rights Committee said on April 14 that Kazakhstan’s government violated the rights of activists Max Bokayev and Talgat Ayan following the 2016 land protests. The activists filed a complaint to the UN in 2018 with demands for compensation for being unlawfully detained, with their “freedom of expression restricted and their right to peaceful assembly violated.”\n\nIn a joint statement on April 16, the ministries of foreign affairs of Russia and Azerbaijan said that the 2024 crash of a passenger plane in Kazakhstan’s western Mangistau region was the “result of an unintentional action by the air defense system in Russia’s airspace.” The two countries reached a settlement and compensated the victims, the statement said. In October last year, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin admitted that the plane, flying from Baku to Grozny, was damaged from the detonation of two Russian missiles. The pilot tried to land at the nearest airport, across the Caspian Sea, but the plane crashed before reaching Aktau, killing 38 people.\n\n**Sign up for our English-language newsletter.**",
  "title": "The Week in Kazakhstan: Friendly Justice"
}