Today on January 9, 2024, the head of the Karakalpak diaspora in the Mangistau region of Kazakhstan, Nietbay Urazbayev, has died in a hospital in Almaty. Nietbai Urazbayev is an ethnic Karakalpak and held citizenship of Kazakhstan until 2023 when his Kazakh citizenship was revoked by Kazakh authorities. More on this can be read here. He was an activist and chairman of the Karakalpak Ethnocultural Association “Allayar Zholu – Aktau,” registered with the Department of Justice of the Mangystau region, Kazakhstan and advocated for the rights of Karakalpakminority and independence of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. Since 2004, he has been residing in Kazakhstan, and in 2008, he permanently moved to the city of Aktau in the Mangystau region of Kazakhstan.
He recently moved from Aktau to Almaty to stay with his daughter fearing kidnapping by Uzbek security services. In Uzbekistan, he was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison after protests in Karakalpakstan. Over the past year and a half, Tashkent has been actively persecuting him, seeking to deprive Urazbayev of Kazakh citizenship and subsequently extradite him to Uzbekistan. Cause of death: heart attack due to prolonged and severe stress.
