Belgium/Kazakhstan: Judicial harassment against Ms. Botagoz Jardemalie

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the judicial harassment against Ms. Botagoz Jardemalie, a Kazakh human rights defender, licensed attorney in the State of New York and outspoken critic of the Kazakh regime, who was granted political asylum in Belgium in 2013. In addition to her social network awareness-raising activities, Ms. Jardemalie advocates against the persecution of political prisoners in Kazakhstan with Members of the European Parliament in Brussels, including by supporting the adoption of European Parliament’s resolutions on Kazakhstan. As a lawyer, she also defends dissidents as well as opponents to the Kazakh regime.

According to the information received, despite her refugee status in Belgium, for years Ms. Jardemalie has been facing continuous harassment by Kazakh authorities in an attempt to intimidate, silence, and punish her for her work as a lawyer and human rights defender. Ms. Jardemalie has notably been accused by the Kazakh authorities of embezzlement of funds at BTA Bank as well as money laundering. This persecution seems to be politically motivated, especially when considering that she has been a lawyer of the main political opponent of the regime in Kazakhstan, Mr. Mukhtar Ablyazov[1].

At the end of November 2019, the Criminal Court of First Instance of Brussels sentenced two German and one Russian nationals to two years in prison for illegally surveilling Ms. Jardemalie in 2014-2015 on the territory of Belgium. According to the criminal case, the men were searching for information about her contacts and travels and tried to bribe Ms. Jardemalie’s lawyer in Brussels to get access to her legal files and her residence address. Another criminal investigation is ongoing in Belgium in connection with illegal surveillance of Ms. Jardemalie on Belgian soil by another individual.

In spite of this, according to the information received, in April 2018 the Minister of Justice of Belgium accepted international mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests filed by Kazakhstan a month before, without carrying out proper verification required under the law, failing both to protect a refugee and to respect the rights of a lawyer and the legal profession.

At the request of the Kazakh authorities, on October 1, 2019, the Belgian police, accompanied by two unidentified Kazakh officers, searched Ms. Jardemalie’s Brussels apartment. Despite the request of the family members present and in the absence of Ms. Jardemalie, the police refused to present a search warrant. A large number of professional documents and computer equipment were seized. In the present case, no jurisdictional remedy in Belgium is currently provided to enable Ms. Jardemalie to protect her fundamental rights and prevent further violation of those of her clients, including Kazakh political activists, journalists and victims of torture[2].

The Observatory believes that Kazakhstan has been persecuting Ms. Jardemalie in Belgium in order to force her to stop defending dissidents and opponents of the Kazakh authorities, to obtain information on Kazakh political opponents, victims of human rights violations and human rights activists, but also to force her to return to Kazakhstan and testify against the main political opponent of the current authorities, Mr. Mukhtar Ablyazov. Furthermore, in November 2017, her brother, Mr. Iskander Yerimbetov, was arrested and tortured in Kazakhstan and it is widely recognised that Mr. Yerimbetov’s detention, and his repeated torture, were intended to pressure Ms. Jardemalie to return to Kazakhstan[3].

The above-mentioned developments are the latest in a series of acts of harassment by Kazakh authorities against Ms. Jardemalie. In 2013, at Kazakhstan’s request, INTERPOL had issued a Red Notice targeting Ms. Jardemalie, which was later cancelled for non-compliance with INTERPOL’s rules against political abuses[4]. Besides, the Kazakh authorities filed two extradition requests[5] with respect to Ms. Jardemalie, both of which were refused by the Ministry of Justice of Belgium.
The Observatory requests the immediate end of any harassment against Ms. Botagoz Jardemalie and her family, including at the judicial level, and the end of any cooperation between Belgium and Kazakhstan with regards to the present case.