“We Had Nothing To Do With Politics Until it Walked Right Into Our Home”
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Almas Tilepov, 70, and his wife Kalimash Toishybekova live in a house near Almaty. In 2024, their son journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Mukhammedkarim is now in custody in Kyzylorda, almost 1,000 kilometers to the west. Tilepov and Toishybekova used to travel there often to support him. Now they make trips to Astana, to demand justice from the General Prosecutor’s Office.
Vlast spoke with them about their fight for their son’s freedom.
UPDATE (June 26): Mukhammedkarim refused to plead for a more lenient sentence, his lawyers told the press on June 26. Mukhammedkarim was sentenced on charges of “financing extremism” and “participation in a banned organization” because of an interview on his YouTube channel with Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive leader of an opposition group. Mukhammedkarim said the charges were politically motivated. He has already been in custody for more than two years.
Mukhamedkarim’s lawyer Galym Nurpeisov informed the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights that the journalist’s state of health has worsened.
“His back hurts. He cannot sit or stand for long. The doctor has ordered him to lie down because of this. On June 30 the prison administration will send Duman to the hospital for treatment because his current medication has stopped working,” the Bureau shared.
UPDATE (June 30): We contacted Mukhammedkarim's lawyer, but he could not confirm whether he was sent to the hospital today. This would be the first time he leaves solitary confinement since April 19.
“They Made a Politician out of a Simple Journalist”“We often sat right here,” Toishybekova said of her son. “He would say, ‘Mom, we have such a nice garden. It feels like we aren’t even in the city.’”
Mukhammedkarim’s garden has become a place of respite for the couple since his arrest.
“He loves order. When we first started planting potatoes, he was mad at me for doing it the wrong way. It’s important that they’re all in their own place,” said Almas Tilepov, Mukhammedkarim’s father.
Toishybekova remembers how her son used to gather mint and strawberries from the garden and make tea.
The garden has many different plants, from potatoes to herbs. It takes up almost their entire yard. It became almost the only place where the family can briefly take their minds off their son, who remains behind bars.
In June 2023 a police officer came to their home. Mukhammedkarim had gone to the store. Ice cream he had bought for his mom was left melting in his car. His personal belongings were scattered about as they took him away.
Mukhammedkarim spent a year in detention, awaiting the results of the investigation and a date for his trial. In August 2024, he was sentenced to seven years of prison on charges of “financing extremism” and “participation in prohibited organizations.”
Mukhammedkarim’s family moved to Almaty in 2017. Before that , Duman worked as a journalist in Astana. After they moved to Almaty, he became interested in politics. “Sometimes I think if we hadn’t moved here, nothing would have happened to Duman,” said his mother.
Just as she said this, the power went out in the house.
“It’s always like this. When Duman was running for office, he raised the problems of dacha [summer cottage] communities. He published a big journalistic investigation about it. That's when they made a politician out of him,” said his father.
We were sitting in the kitchen where the family would normally gather around the table.
“Many journalists came. Duman would tell me, ‘Mom, don’t talk to them, you’ll wear yourself out.’ But now my son is serving an unjust sentence, so I decided that I would speak out for him,” she said, pouring tea.
Usually after an interview with a journalist, the parents prepare themselves to be arrested. Toishybekova packs her bags in advance, never forgetting her toothbrush and toothpaste.
A Prison Within a PrisonKalimash Toishybekova has not seen her son once since his last court hearing one year ago. To make matters worse, before the new year, Mukhammedkarim was transferred to Kyzylorda, a city in southern Kazakhstan, without any explanation. Activists, gathering outside the Department of Correctional Services, asked the question: why did they imprison a journalist who was just doing his job?
Toishybekova said that originally they promised her a meeting with her son, but they later granted her a video call. Mukhammedkarim, however, declined.
“When I went to Kyzylorda, they told me that they took him out of solitary confinement to a single room. It turns out he had only been granted better conditions for one day,” she said. “He then realized it was all for appearances’ sake, because I had arrived along with other activists. Knowing this, he refused to participate. He refused to be treated like a naive person. As I left, I told [the officers], ‘If something happens to him, you will all answer for it.’”
Mukhammedkarim’s mother believes that officials fear her son, so they keep him in solitary confinement.
“At six in the morning they take his sheets, he sits on the concrete floor all day like an animal at the zoo. Officials are afraid that he could rouse up the other prisoners,” she said.
Since Mukhammedkarim was transferred to Kyzylorda, the elderly parents have had no contact with their son. When he was in the pre-trial detention center in Taldykorgan, a city not far from Almaty, they would visit him every two days. They woke up at five in the morning to see him, returning late at night. It gave them some comfort, bringing him food, books, and newspapers. This is no longer possible.
After their last trip to Kyzylorda, the couple decided that there was no point in going anymore. It was better to focus their efforts on Astana, where the authorities are located.
The parents say that when they announce a trip to either city, activists raise money to support their journey.
Tilepov said that he needs almost a week to recover from these trips because of his high blood pressure.
He asked the Department of Correctional Services to allow him to contact his son occasionally by payphone. He also demands that they release Mukhammedkarim from solitary confinement, arguing that more than 15 days there should be considered torture. Tilepov insists that they transfer his son to the Almaty region, where Mukhammedkarim is registered.
“In Almaty the activists are very energetic. They never gave the authorities a break,” he said, trying to explain why Mukhammedkarim was transferred to Kyzylorda.
“The authorities wanted to weaken him and to take away his support so that he would plead guilty,” added Toishybekova.
Mukhammedkarim was repeatedly transferred to solitary confinement because of his “refusal to work on the improvement of the facilities and living conditions.”
In total, he has spent more than 150 days in solitary confinement. He is still being held there today. He is scheduled for a hospital visit on June 30 and will leave solitary confinement for the first time since being transferred to Kyzylorda.
Toishybekova calls his holding cell “a prison within a prison.” Since her son was placed in solitary confinement, she cannot sleep and rarely goes out because she feels unwell. She says that she dreams of Duman often.
“I have to live for my son. I’m on a lot of medications. When he returns home, this home mustn't be empty. If we die, there will be no one left here. He will feel guilty for everything,” his mother said through tears.
“We used to live on our own. We didn’t have anything to do with politics. Like everyone else, we just discussed it at the dinner table and that was it. Now we do it openly. Because they struck a nerve. Politics walked right into our home,” said Tilepov.
He laughed, “We’re parents of a journalist, we can talk without stopping.”
Toishybekova said that her son used to joke that she is a “Tokayev fan,” referring to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
“I would tell him: ‘My son, whatever he is, he’s our president. Don’t say the truth, they’ll lock you up. In this country, whoever talks about politics and truth won’t live long.’ And he would say to me: ‘Mom, I’m a journalist, I have to tell the truth.’”
“They Locked Him up for Telling the Truth”“It all started during the January Events,” Tilepov said at lunch. “At that time, there was an internet blackout. Duman filmed the whole thing. He was the first journalist to publish anything that day.”
He went to Kyrgyzstan to upload his reports.
“We all saw it on our screens. All the horrors of that day. I was so afraid that he would get shot,” said Toishybekova.
“Then Tokayev ordered to shoot without warning,” they said.
After the violent repression of urban protests in January 2022, known as Qandy Qantar, his parents started to take a more active interest in current events.
They know civil activists, including some that were detained before the referendum on the nuclear power plant in 2024.
“I became more aware after they locked up my son. I was just a simple retired accountant,” said Toishybekova. “They locked him up for telling the truth. Why should I be silent?”
Mukhammedkarim’s parents said that they are recognized on the street. Many people advise them to leave Kazakhstan. This bothers them: “Why should we leave, thinking only of ourselves? Why don’t these people demand anything from the government? Even Duman said that he wouldn’t surrender his homeland to crooks,” said Tilepov.
Toishybekova added that Mukhammedkarim will not agree to parole and does not plan to leave the country following his release.
The parents now wait for news from an appellate court. If they do not find justice there, they will go to the UN.
An edited version of this article was translated into English by Zeina Nassif.