A supporter of the “Russian world” from Kazakhstan was sentenced to seven years for an interview about “Russophobic ideology”

The Auezov District Court of Almaty (Kazakhstan) sentenced blogger and human rights activist Ermek Taychibekov to seven years in prison. He was found guilty of inciting ethnic hatred (Article 174 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan), RIA Novosti reports, citing his lawyer.

The criminal prosecution of Taichibekov began last fall – at the end of September he was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center. An occasion like told himself a public figure, it became his May interview Russian edition “Ukraine.ru”. The portal, which began its work in 2014, belongs to the state agency MIA Rossiya Segodnya and is known for its notes discrediting Ukraine.

V video Taichibekov, sitting against the backdrop of the black-yellow-white imperial flag, accused the Kazakh authorities of “Russophobic state ideology” that “infringes upon” the Russian-speaking population. According to the blogger, the authorities are conducting a deliberate “Russophobic” campaign, forcing people to abandon the Russian language and Russian culture.

We are talking about plans to ban Russian television in Kazakhstan and “exclude the Russian language from the Constitution” (in fact, it is not a state language). For these purposes, says Taichibekov, officials allegedly hired “Russian people, pure Europeans” who came up with initiatives to discriminate against the Russian language. He also mentioned the attack by Kazakh nationalists on the Dungan village (an indigenous people living in the south of the republic) in February 2020.

In addition, the blogger spoke sharply about the Kazakhs as a nation, which “in its entire long history has not done anything constructive.” “Even if you look from the time of Genghis Khan … What is a Kazakh proud of? We burned Moscow … We burned Kiev. Our ancestors captured hundreds of thousands of Slavs. How can you be proud of this? ”Taychibekov noted.

In their homeland, the Taichibeks, in particular, are known as a supporter of Kazakhstan’s joining Russia, since the “Russian world” in the understanding of the activist includes the entire territory of the former Russian Empire. Those Kazakhs who oppose integration with Russia, Taichibekov has repeatedly called “separatists” – in his opinion, it was the Russians who instilled in Kazakhs the civilizational foundations of social life and helped to establish themselves as a nation.

If in Kazakhstan the blogger is criticized and almost hated, then in Russia his pro-Russian views, on the contrary, found support. Largely due to the fact that Taychibekov supports the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass, de facto controlled by Russia. Pro-Russian position he adhered to and in 2014, during the “Russian Spring” (protests in southeastern Ukraine).

Last year, immediately after Taychibekov’s arrest, in support of the activist came forward Russian National Bolsheviks. He is being tried just for the words about the failed national policy of Kazakhstan, wrote on his Telegram, the coordinator of the “Other Russia of Eduard Limonov” Mikhail Axel. “Ermek Taychibekov is an ethnic Kazakh, a patriot, a supporter of the unity of Kazakhstan with Russia. <...> Russia is obliged to support its people regardless of what kind of passport they have, ”he said.

The campaign in defense of the Kazakh blogger was also supported by Russian officials and propagandists. Head of Rossotrudnichestvo Evgeny Primakov expressed hopethat “the investigation bodies of Kazakhstan will sort out this difficult situation” and added that he would be glad if Taichibekov was found not guilty of inciting ethnic hatred. “What shit. I thought that only the Balts know how to arrange such feints. <...> Oh, Kazakh friends, and you, Brutus “, – wrote in social networks Maria Butina is a member of the Moscow POC, an employee of RT, and now a candidate for the State Duma from United Russia.

It is noteworthy that this is not the first criminal case of incitement to hatred against Taychibekov. At the end of 2015, the activist was sentenced to four years in prison for posting to Facebook. In October 2017, he was released ahead of schedule. “I am a Russian imperialist, and I have not abandoned the ideology of the Russian world”, – spoke Taychibekov after his release.