Galymzhan Zhakiyanov
Now under city arrest in Almaty.
Galymzhan Badylzhanovich Zhakiyanov was born May 8, 1963 in the village Kuigan,
Kurchum district, East-Kazakhstan oblast. He is married and has two sons. He graduated
from the Moscow Bauman Higher Technical Institute, major in mechanical engineering.
He holds a Ph.D. in Economics. He speaks Kazakh, Russian and English.
1989:
Galymzhan Zhakiyanov headed the Regional Youth Centers Association “Maksat”. After
that, he won elections against twelve rivals and harsh resistance of the regional
communist party committee, and became Deputy of the City Council. Soon afterwards,
Galymzhan Zhakiyanov starts publishing and editing of the regional democratic
newspaper Sodeistvie [Assistance].
1990:
In August 1990 Galymzhan starts private business with the Toman firm; then he was the
head of the Semey Co., which was mining the Karazhyra coal field near Semipalatinsk.
He headed Semey Company until summer of 1994; in this interval of time the enterprise
grew into the largest coal supplier in the Eastern Kazakhstan, and also the main taxpayer
in the Semipalatinsk oblast
1991:
During the putsch of Aug 19, 1991, he gave a speech at the special session of the City
Council, openly demanding that all actions of the State Emergency Situation Committee
(GKChP) be fulminated and declared illegal.
1994: In June 1994 G. Zhakiyanov was appointed head of the Semipalatinsk Oblast
Administration by a presidential decree. He was only 31 at that time, and thus became the
youngest top-level state manager in history of Kazakhstan. President Nazarbayev, when
he was giving evaluation of the Zhakiyanov’s governorship in the Semipalatinsk oblast,
had to say: “During these years reforms in the Semipalatinsk region were one step ahead
of the rest of the country”.
1997:
In March 1997 Galymzhan Zhakiyanov was appointed Chairman of the Strategic
Resources Control Agency. Galymzhan tried to stop stealing and embezzlement of public
funds, suggested a number of measures to prevent strategic national resources of the
country from squandering. But all of these initiatives appeared to be unnecessary for the
authorities. The Agency was liquidated in August 1997, and it was never reestablished
afterwards.
In December 1997 Zhakiyanov was appointed Akim of the Pavlodar oblast. By the end of
1997 the situation in the Pavlodar oblast turned out to be disastrous. The region was
burdened with multimillion debts, several-years delays in the salary and pension
payments. In December 1997 the situation became even worse because of the weather.
The city was left without heating and electricity at minus 40C. Under the four-year
leadership of G. Zhakiyanov, the oblast became one of the most developed regions of
Kazakhstan with regard to social and economic development rates.
2001:
Galymzhan Zhakiyanov could not conciliate his firm democratic views and convictions
with this state of affairs. Governor of the Pavlodar oblast consistently and openly
expressed his disagreement with the policy of freezing democratic reforms in the
Kazakhstani press and national television.
The Panorama newspaper published his views that started the conflict between him and
the official authorities.
In November 2001 the confrontation resulted in establishment of the Democratic Choice
of Kazakhstan (DCK) public association, founded by Zhakiyanov along with the
governmental officials, Members of Parliament and prominent businessmen (U.
Zhandosov, Z. Yertlesova, A. Baymenov, T. Tokhtasynov, Z. Battalova, M. Ablyazov, N.
Subkhanberdin, E. Tatishev and others).
In November 2001 the confrontation resulted in establishment of the Democratic Choice
of Kazakhstan (DCK) public association, founded by Zhakiyanov along with the
governmental officials, Members of Parliament and prominent businessmen (U.
Zhandosov, Z. Yertlesova, A. Baymenov, T. Tokhtasynov, Z. Battalova, M. Ablyazov, N.
Subkhanberdin, E. Tatishev and others).
On November 18, 2001, founders of DCK held a press conference, on which they called
for start of real democratic reforms: decentralization of the state authority, introduction of
the local authority elections, reform of the electoral and judicial systems, and
demonopolization of the media. Several days later, founders of DCK were dismissed
from their posts. Akim G. Zhakiyanov learned about resignation during his official trip to
Astana.
Prime Minister Tokayev arrived to Pavlodar to present newly appointed Akim D.
Akhmetov. He told to the Pavlodar officials and activists that Zhakiyanov was urgently
dismissed for his failures in social and economic policy in the oblast. The audience
reacted with indignation, so that Tokayev and Akhmetov refused to answer questions and
bundled off. A spontaneous rally was held on the square near Administration. People
protested against dismissal of Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, but they were dispersed by police.
On the next day G. Zhakiyanov left to Almaty and commenced on organization of work
of DCK. From that out he became one of the leaders of Kazakh democratic opposition.
2002:
January 2002 Galymzhan Zhakiyanov was among organizers of the first 10,000 rally of
DCK in Almaty, and the Meeting of Democratic Forces, in which nearly 1,000 delegates
from all regions of Kazakhstan took part. At the meeting, G. Zhakiyanov was
unanimously elected head of the National Committee for Referendum on Introduction of
Local Authority Elections. (The authorities, through the docile Central Electoral
Commission, did utmost to turn down the referendum).
In February 2002 G. Zhakiyanov initiated conducting of the First General Conference of
the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan association. It resulted in consolidation of
practically all opposition parties and movements within DCK. Since then Zhakiyanov
became an avowed and authoritative leader of the renewed DCK movement.
In March 2002 members of DCK and deputies of the Parliament S. Abdildin and B.
Sorokin made an inquiry to the government, demanding explanations on the foreign bank
accounts of N. Nazarbayev, his relatives and cronies, which were discovered in Swiss
banks by prosecutor for the canton of Geneva B. Bertossa. He initiated investigation into
the sources of money on these accounts in the framework of international anti-corruption
campaign.
The text of this inquiry was published in the media, close to Ex-Minister of Energy and
CEO of the Kazakhstan Airlines Co. Mukhtar Ablyazov, – Respublika newspaper and
Tan TV. After that Ablyazov was hastily arrested on fabricated charges.
Next day G. Zhakiyanov initiated the extraordinary meeting of the DCK Political
Council, which resolutely condemned the regime’s actions, and demanded immediate
release of M. Ablyazov, one of the leaders of DCK. Zhakiyanov was unanimously elected
Chairman of the DCK Political Council.
On the evening of the same day, a criminal case against Zhakiyanov was filed. Officers
of the National Security Committee and a division of commandos blockaded Astana
Hotel in Almaty, where he was staying, and tried to arrest him (On this night the Tan TV
station was machine-gunned; two weeks later the office of the Respublika newspaper was
firebombed). But Zhakiyanov managed to leave the hotel and get to the French embassy
in the French consul’s car. French, British and German diplomats jointly decided to
provide him with political protection from the Kazakh authorities’ persecution.
2002:
April: G. Zhakiyanov refused to receive political asylum, offered by the democratic
countries; he voluntarily left the French embassy and surrendered to the authorities. The
Kazakh government and the ambassadors of France, Germany, Great Britain and the
USA signed a special memorandum, which provided his safety and house arrest.
However, three days later the authorities violated the memorandum, and secretly took G.
Zhakiyanov on board the military aircraft to Pavlodar, where he was thrown into the
barrack of private enterprise Pavlodarsol.
May: G. Zhakiyanov was indicted.
July 15: the trial over Galymzhan Zhakiyanov for for corruption and abuse of power
started. It had been declared open, but attendance of public and journalists was severely
restricted, photo and video shooting was prohibited. The judge denied most motions filed
by the defense.
August 2: the Pavlodar City Court sentenced G. Zhakiyanov to seven years in jail.
September: G. Zhakiyanov was moved to the Kostanai oblast in the northern part of
Kazakhstan and placed in the Kushmurun Penitentiary (the most awful prison in
Kazakhstan, as reported).
2004:
On August 2, 2004 Galymzhan Zhakiyanov has had to be released on probation
according to the existing legislation. On August 10, 2004, the sudden and fast sitting of
the court was held in the Kushmurun prison, which considered the issue of the DCK
leader’s release on probation. It was reported that he will serve the rest of the
imprisonment term in Pavlodar. However, immediately after the court ruling, Galymzhan
Zhakiyanov was taken to Kostanai. Galymzhan Zhakiyanov was transferred from prison
to a "settlement colony," (The "settlement colony" is a form of internal exile under house
arrest that Kazakhstan inherited from the Soviet legal system.)
2005:
December: the Ekibastuz city court’s sitting in Shiderty decided to grant conditional
release to political prisoner G. Zhakiyanov
2006:
January: G. Z. was conditionally released; under city arrest – can’t leave Almaty