Rights Activist Zhovtis Convicted in Violation-Riddled Trial
Yevgeniy Zhovtis, a prominent Kazakh human rights activist, was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to four years in a labor camp by a court outside of Almaty on September 3rd.
Zhovtis, head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law and one of the founders of Transparency Kazakhstan, admits responsibility for the auto accident that claimed the life of a pedestrian on July 26th, but dismissed the trial and sentencing as a ‘political setup’.
The accident occurred when Zhovtis’ vehicle struck a pedestrian after Zhovtis was apparently blinded by of oncoming traffic. Tests conducted on the day of the accident confirmed no signs of alcohol in Zhovtis’ blood, and technical experts deemed the accident unavoidable.
On July 28th, two days after the accident, Zhovtis was named as a suspect in the criminal investigation, though he was not informed of this status until August 14th, a violation of Kazakh investigation procedures. Additional tests several days after the accident found small traces of alcohol in Zhovtis’ blood and determined that the accident was in fact avoidable.
More controversy surrounded the trial. After accepting the defense’s motion to delay the trial to September 2nd, the judge conducted the entirety of the trial in two days and rejected several motions from the defense. The motions rejected included the testimony of experts on auto accidents and a twelve-page statement written by Zhovtis denying his guilt.
Creating further controversy was the judge’s decision to give the defense only 40 minutes to prepare their final statement. The verdict, which the judge took 30 minutes to prepare, was over five pages and printed, creating speculation among the defense that the verdict had been given in advance.
Zhovtis founded the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law in 1993. Since then he published over 100 articles on problems of corruption and rule of law and received numerous awards. Zhovtis, recently turned 54, also spent five years on the board of directors of the Soros Kazakhstan Foundation.
The trial further highlights the widespread problem of corruption within Kazakhstan’s court system. Transparency Kazakhstan, which conducts free legal consultations for victims of corruption at offices in both Astana and Almaty, reports that 27% of consultations at their center in Astana are regarding corruption in the courts, their leading issue, while 13% of complaints in Almaty are court-related. The only issues which create more complaints in Almaty are education and property rights.
---Alex Visotzky
