Koshkarbai Toremuratov is a prominent Karakalpak civil rights activist, former political prisoner and the founder of “Karakalpak.info” and the YouTube channel “PIKIR” dedicated to exposing political repression and advocating for the rights of the Karakalpak people was granted international protection in Poland.
In 2022 Toremuratov openly criticized the proposed amendments to Uzbekistan’s Constitution, in which Uzbek authorities removed the provision regarding the sovereignty of Karakalpakstan and the right to secede from Uzbekistan. The criminal case against him was initiated in 2022 by Uzbek authorities after Karakalpakstan’s July protests because he reposted a video from 2020 in which several people protested for independence in the main square of Nukus, Karakalpakstan’s capital city. The video does not contain any calls to violence or mass riots. In August 2022, Uzbek authorities brought the following charges against Toremuratov: article 159 Criminal Code of Uzbekistan, “Encroachments on the constitutional system of the Republic Uzbekistan,” and Article 244¹ Criminal Code of Uzbekistan,“Production, distribution and demonstration of materials containing threats to public safety and public order”. Koshkarbai was found guilty in absentia and sentenced to 5 years and one months in prison.
On 13 September 2022, he was arrested by Kazakhstan’s police on an extradition request from Uzbekistan and spent 12 months in a detention center Almaty, Kazakhstan while the migration department considered his asylum request in Kazakhstan. On 27 July 2023, Toremuratov’s asylum request in Kazakhstan was denied without providing any grounds for refusal. Toremuratov was released from pre-trial detention and in October 2023, he travelled to Warsaw, Poland, to participate in the OSCE Human Dimension Conference. During the conference Toremuratov made a presentation about Uzbek authorities’ excessive use of force against the protesters in July 2022 in Karakalpakstan and violation of rights of political prisoners. He was threatened by Uzbek authorities, which underscores the risks faced by activists even in international spaces. Despite the threats Toremuratov participated in the OSCE Human Dimension Conference in 2024 and was a speaker at the side event “Defending Dignity – Addressing Human Rights Crisis and Transnational Repression of Karakalpak Activists in Uzbekistan” organized by Freedom For Eurasia.
Toremuratov’s experiences, and those of other Karakalpak activists, underscore the pervasive human rights violations and transnational repression they endure. These cases highlight the urgent need for international action to protect activists advocating for justice, freedom, democracy and fundamental human rights.
