Forum 18 (14.11.2025) - The criminal investigation into four police officers who tortured and threatened to murder Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev in the southern town of Kentau on 13 August appears to be at a standstill. An official of Kentau Prosecutor's Office – which a court had to order to begin an investigation – insists that it cannot proceed until Tursynbayev makes his statement about the torture in person in Kentau. "It is necessary that testimony is taken in the presence of the victim," he told Forum 18. "This can't be done appropriately by video."
Tursynbayev and his family fled from Kentau to the city of Almaty after the torture, fearing for their safety. He has offered to testify in Almaty or by video, but Kentau Prosecutor's Office has rejected this. "Returning to Kentau - the town where he was tortured and threatened with death - causes Tursynbayev serious concern for his life and the safety of his family," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18.
Four police officers – reportedly led by Lieutenant Colonel Baglan Yankin – subjected Tursynbayev to repeated torture and murder threats. After six hours of interrogation and torture, he admitted he had conducted "illegal missionary activity". After release late in the evening, his friends took him to hospital to document his fractured rib and other injuries.
Daniyar Tursynbayev shows signs of torture at Kentau police station, 13 august 2025. Credits: Jehovah's Witness
Kazakhstan's obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture require it both to arrest any person suspected on good grounds of having committed, instigated or acquiesced to torture "or take other legal measures to ensure his [sic] presence", and also to try them under criminal law. No one has been arrested or tried in relation to the torture.
Lieutenant Colonel Yankin again denied that he or other officers had tortured Tursynbayev. "This is slander," he told Forum 18. He also denied that police had held Tursynbayev on 13 August for more than six hours.
Lieutenant Colonel Yankin told Forum 18 that he remains at work at Kentau Police. "On what basis should I be removed from duty?" he asked. "There aren't such facts [of torture]." An administrative case has been initiated against Yankin in relation to a raid on Kentau's Jehovah's Witness community on the same day that officers tortured Tursynbayev. The case has not reached court.
Colonel Baglan Yankin leads police raid on Jehovah's Witness meeting, Kentau, 13 august 2025. Credits: Jehovah's Witness
Erkegali Meyirbekov, head of Kentau Police, did not reply to Forum 18's September written questions about why its officers tortured Tursynbayev. An officer of Kentau Police told Forum 18 on 13 November that Meyirbekov was out of the office at a meeting. No other officer would discuss the case.
On 12 September, the non-governmental Coalition Against Torture wrote to General Prosecutor Berik Asylov in Astana. It complained that no criminal case had been launched to punish the torturers for "the brutal treatment and torture" of Tursynbayev. The Coalition pointed to Kazakhstan's obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture and demanded the immediate launch of a case under Criminal Code Article 146 ("Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, torture").
The torture of Tursynbayev "clearly took place", notes Andrey Grishin of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Almaty. Yet launching the criminal case happened only "with great difficulty". But simply the launching of the case "does not mean it will be investigated properly", he wrote (see below).
"We remain deeply concerned about Tursynbayev's safety and the integrity of the legal process," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18.
Police have refused to return Tursynbayev's passport or phone which they seized on 13 August. "This is a violation of his fundamental rights and deprives him of opportunities necessary for a normal life," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. "He cannot leave the country, apply to the Public Service Centre, obtain documents, or receive medical care".
Meanwhile, fears are growing that the regime is preparing legal changes to restrict further the exercise of freedom of religion or belief. President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev said in March that laws on religion must be "adapted to the new conditions".
One commentator in Astana pointed to the growing number of media publications criticising "dangerous sects". The individual noted that a spike in such publications – usually funded by state grants to the media – often precedes a tightening of legal controls on exercising freedom of religion or belief. "I think this issue is being promoted on state grants in advance of the initiative to change the Religion Law," the individual told Forum 18.
The regime imposes tight restrictions on the exercise of freedom of religion or belief. Against legally-binding international human rights obligations, the Religion Law allows only state-registered religious communities to hold meetings for worship which must be at state-approved locations. The Muslim community faces even tighter restrictions: only mosques subject to the state-controlled Muslim Board are allowed to exist.
All other meetings for worship risk punishment. Individuals, charities and companies face fines under Administrative Code Article 490, Part 1, Point 1 ("Violating the requirements of the Religion Law for conducting religious rites, ceremonies and/or meetings") for holding meetings for worship without state permission or allowing such meetings to be held in their premises.
Officials and politicians have repeatedly expressed an intention to make state controls over the exercise of freedom of religion or belief tighter. The head of the National Security Committee (NSC) secret police, Yermek Sagimbayev, told deputies of the non-freely-elected parliament in October 2023: "The initiative on the need to harshen legislation in the area of regulating religious activity has more than once been discussed at a government level."
In early 2024, the regime drafted a wide-ranging Amending Law to amend the 2011 Religion Law and a range of other Laws and Codes. The Law was never adopted.
