Zhetkerbai Abdramanov
Civic activist, worked as a vendor at the market in Almaty, Kazakhstan
Home imprisonment for 4 years and 7 months
Uzbek authorities issued an arrest warrant for Abdramanov, charging him under Article 159, Part 1 (public calls for violation of the unity of Uzbekistan’s territory) and Article 244-1, Part 3, Paragraph “a” (distribution of materials threatening public safety by prior conspiracy) of the Uzbek Criminal Code. On 29 June, 2022, just two days before the protests in Karakalpakstan, Abdramanov, who was working in Kazakhstan at the time, was detained in one of the Almaty markets for distributing materials that expressed disagreement with changes to the Constitution of Uzbekistan, which envisaged the abolition of the sovereignty of the Republic of Karakalpakstan and collecting signatures of Karakalpaks in Kazakhstan against Consitutional amendments.
The court trial was short and politically motivated, as the charges brought against Zhetkerbai Abdramanov and him were based solely on the distribution of posters about Karakalpakstan’s independence. This cannot be considered a crime, since both the Constitutions of Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan guarantee freedom of expression and, moreover, recognize the right of Karakalpakstan to secede.
On 29 April 2025, the Nukus City Court ruled to transfer Karakalpak activist Zhetkerbai Abdramanov from pre-trial detention to house arrest for a term of 4 years and 7 months.
