testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-2: Zhenis Akzhan (born in 1996), migrated to Kazakhstan in 2009 and became a Kazakh citizen in 2016.

victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-2: The victim is the testifier's father.

about the victim

Zhenis Orazqanuly (DOB: August 12, 1966), Chinese citizen, has residence permit in Kazakhstan since 2016. He entered China in August 2017, and his passport was taken. After 2-3 months he was taken to a concentration camp, and there was no further communication. According to what his son heard, he was first in a camp in Urumchi, then sent to a camp in Tarbagatai (Tacheng), but they had no idea about his situation. He had retired in 2009 due to health problems. [Testimony 2: In 2008, he retired from work at Emin county’s TV station.]

current location

Possibly in the Tacheng Prefecture.

chronology of detention(s)

Passport confiscated in August 2017 (taken to camp 2-3 months later).

Testimony 2: Passport confiscated on August 20, 2017, when he was coming back to China to organize a second wedding. Arrested on November 25, 2017. He was first detained at Tacheng city, later sent to Urumqi, and sent back to Tacheng 6 months after that.

suspected and/or official reason(s) for detention

Unclear.

last reported status

November 22, 2018: Turkish scholar Mehmet Volkan reports hearing from victim's friends/relatives that he has been released.

November 25, 2018: M. Volkan says that he hasn't actually been released.

December 2, 2018: M. Volkan confirms he has been released and is at home.

May 20, 2018: returned to Kazakhstan on May 18, according to a local source, has two months before having to return to China.

how testifier(s) learned of victim's situation

Presumably through friends/relatives.

additional information

From Mehmet Volkan: "On November 15, I gave an interview in Turkish and mentioned their names. Then they [friends/relatives of detained] sent me their stories and I have translated into Turkish and told them I was going to contact international authorities. If you understand Kazakh, this is what they said: "I have sent this (the post) to my relatives and told them Volkan is going to internationalize the issue. After that we heard the happy news"."

Turkish blog mention: https://falancamesele.wordpress.com/2018/11/22/kazak-arkadasimin-toplama-kamplarina-alinan-akrabalari-icin-yardim-cagrisi/

relatives

supplementary materials

entry created on: 2018-11-23

entry last modified on: 2019-05-20

last update from testifier(s): 2019-05-20