Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASTANA1977
2009-11-06 09:34:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Astana
Cable title:  

KAZAKHSTAN: MEDIA REPORTS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASES

Tags:  PGOV ELAB SMIG SOCI KCRM KTIP UZ KZ 
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DE RUEHTA #1977/01 3100934
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
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FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6769
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 2120
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1490
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2191
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 1125
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFAAA/DIA WASHDC
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 1538
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY 1988
RUEAWJL/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC 0036
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ASTANA 001977 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL/AAE, G/TIP, SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ELAB SMIG SOCI KCRM KTIP UZ KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: MEDIA REPORTS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASES

REF: A) Astana 0368;
B) Astana 0165;
C) Astana 1206

ASTANA 00001977 001.3 OF 004


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ASTANA 001977

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL/AAE, G/TIP, SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ELAB SMIG SOCI KCRM KTIP UZ KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: MEDIA REPORTS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASES

REF: A) Astana 0368;
B) Astana 0165;
C) Astana 1206

ASTANA 00001977 001.3 OF 004



1. The following is a summary of local media reports of human
trafficking cases in Kazakhstan February-April 2009. Septel will
summarize media May-July 2009.

TRAFFICKING IN CHILDREN


2. February 2, Interfax; February 3, "Liter," February 5 Novosti,
February 6 "Kazpravda": A 28-year-old Russian man was arrested in
Akmola Oblast for attempting to sell a baby. Alexei Krukovskyi, who
had come to Szhuchinsk looking for work in March 2007, met a single
mother and attempted to sell her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter to
fund his return to Russia. He took the child to the Baiterek Hotel,
where he was arrested for trying to sell the child to undercover
police officers for $1,300.


3. February 16, "Megapolis": An additional case may be opened
against Zhanibek Kushaliyev, former Chief of Medicine at the Atyrau
Oblast Hospital, who was arrested in January for attempting to sell
a newborn infant for $1,900 (REF A). On January 23, a woman
reported to police that Kushkaliyev sold her a baby girl for $2,000
in May 2007. The Prosecutor General has ordered the creation of an
investigation group headed by the Atyrau prosecutor and including
the Atyrau Department of Interior and Financial Police.


4. March 5, Interfax: Two women in Zhanaozen, Mangystau Oblast,
were convicted of trafficking in infants and sentenced to five years
in prison. In February 2008, a 26-year-old Uzbek woman sold her
newborn baby to one of the women for $300 and signed a letter giving
up her parental rights.

PROSECUTOR SEEKS DISMISSAL OF JUDGE IN TIP CASE


5. February 2, Interfax: A disciplinary commission on judicial
ethics in Karaganda initiated a disciplinary case against a judge in
the Abai Region. The oblast prosecutor has sought the dismissal of
the judge who, in July 2008, handed down a three-year suspended
sentence to the owner of a farm convicted of exploiting a
42-year-old. In November 2008, the oblast-level court sentenced the
trafficker to 10 years in prison (Ref B).


POLICE ANTI-TRAFFICKING OPERATION


6. During Operation "Stop Trafficking" March 10-20, police checked
night clubs, saunas, hotels, and tourist and employment agencies for
evidence of human trafficking, rescuing victims and arresting
traffickers and pimps. The following newspaper articles reported
the results of the operation. (NOTE: INL sponsored an
NGO-implemented information campaign in conjunction with the
operation, during which information brochures were disseminated, and
high-risk groups, including train passengers, were informed about
the dangers of trafficking. Ref C reports on this campaign. END
NOTE.)


7. March 21, "Kazinfor": During Operation "Stop Trafficking,"
officers from the Pavlodar Department of Interior (DVD) checked
saunas, hotels, and restaurants in Pavlodar, Ekibastus, and Aksu for
evidence of prostitution, pimping, and human trafficking. The
Pavlodar DVD arrested seven pimps and registered 89 prostitutes
during last year's operation. Arrests have been made in two pimping
cases investigated this year in the Pavlodar Oblast. In one case, a
woman provided an under-aged girl for sexual exploitation in hotels.



8. March 20, "Izvestiya Kazakhstan": One case of labor
exploitation and four cases of pimping were uncovered in Kostanai
during Operation "Stop Trafficking." A businessman forced a
42-year-old man to work in his marble workshop for three months
without pay and under threat of violence.


9. March 17, "Kazinfor"; March 20, "Izvestiya Kazakhstan":

ASTANA 00001977 002.3 OF 004


Nurbahyt Nabiyev, the Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Division
of the Almaty DVD, reported that police uncovered two cases of
forced prostitution during a one-week operation (see paragraphs
15-16). Nabiyev stated that such operations are important not only
for the investigation of cases of forced labor and forced
prostitution, but also allow police to register prostitutes working
voluntarily. Though prostitution is not illegal in Kazakhstan, all
prostitutes discovered during police raids are registered and
checked in police databases. Prostitutes are also required to have
regular medical screening and HIV tests. Nabiyev also declared that
increased sentences for those found guilty of pimping is beginning
to scare people out of the business.


10. March 13, Transport police in the Western DVD uncovered one
case during Operation "Stop Trafficking." A 48-year-old from
Uzbekistan trafficked was trafficked to Kazakhstan with the promise
of a high-paying job. Traffickers moved him and his two children
via rail to Mangystau Oblast and on to a village in the Atyrau
Oblast, where a woman sold them for $100. A criminal case was
opened.

NGO REPORTING


11. April 10, Zakon.kz: The following stories were reported by a
local NGO.

--A resident of an apartment building in Almaty reported to police
that small children were in the public areas of the building. The
police found that the owner had hired a woman to clean the building,
but all cleaning services were being performed by 10-13 year old
children, who were not attending school. The children refused to
tell police who hired them and if they were being paid. The woman
originally hired could not be located.

--After a woman in the Almaty Oblast contacted police about her
missing daughter, the police found the girl in a brothel with five
other girls, ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old. All girls had
signs of physical abuse and said that they had been kept in the
brothel against their will for more than six months.

--The NGO's call center received a call from a teenage girl who
reported that she had been raped by a man who "bought" her for $100.
When the man was arrested, he claimed that he thought the girl was
a prostitute and did not know that she was a teenager.

SEXUAL EXPLOTATION


12. February 10, "Liter": A 55-year-old in Atyrau, who advertised
himself as a clairvoyant bio-therapist and locally renowned for his
abilities to counteract the evil eye, cure alcoholism, and set
broken bones, was arrested for pimping following an undercover
police operation. The man reportedly maintained a brothel and had
been pimping since January.


13. February 16, "Megapolis": Two 20-year-old former prostitutes
were arrested in a Kyzylorda train station for attempting to traffic
to two undercover police officers to Astana. The women were
reported to police by another woman who was offered $800 for each
young attractive woman she could bring to the two. The recruiters
allegedly had an agreement with pimps in Astana to supply them with
new prostitutes from the regions.


14. March 10, Interfax: Police found four Uzbek women working as
prostitutes in a sauna and arrested the pimp as he received $100.
Police reported that last year they arrested 24 pimps and filed
charges against 20 pimps.


15. March 17, Interfax: Police arrested a 29-year-old madam and
held 24 young women, including three Uzbek nationals, who were
working as prostitutes. The prostitutes lived in a three-room
apartment in Almaty that operated as a brothel for approximately
three months. During the investigation, police found that some of
the girls were trafficked to Almaty with promises of good jobs.
When they arrived in Almaty, their passports were taken, and they

ASTANA 00001977 003.3 OF 004


were forced to work for very little pay. The women were living in
squalid conditions and received only enough money for food. Police
said that 15 of the women did not have documentation and were held.
The detained Uzbek citizens were deported.


16. March 17, Interfax: Almaty police rescued a 19-year-old Kyrgyz
women who was sexually exploited for more than two months. After
being promised a good job, she was trafficked to Almaty, her
passport was taken away, and she was forced to prostitute herself.
The woman had been beaten and received medical aid after her rescue.
A 40-year-old female citizen of the Turksib Rayon of Almaty was
arrested.


17. March 27, Azattyk Radio: Police officers in Taldykorgan began
investigating trafficking to China for purposes of sexual
exploitation after receiving reports from parents. A local
businesswoman, Saule Zhaksygeldinova, had allegedly been recruiting
local students to study at Chinese universities, but was reportedly
selling them to work as prostitutes. The police repatriated 16
students back to Kazakhstan for questioning. No information has
been confirmed.


18. April 28, Interfax, April 29, Zakon.kz: A 49-year old woman
was arrested in Turkestan (South Kazakhstan Oblast) during a special
police operation. Police found a 19-year-old woman from Shymkent
and a 16-year-old orphan from the Sozakskyi Rayon of the South
Kazakhstan Oblast in the woman's apartment. Police determined that
the women were kidnapped from Shymkent and sold in Turkestan for
$350 and $700. The women were kept locked in the apartment and
could only leave when forced to prostitute themselves in local
saunas until one was able to escape. The 19-year-old told police
that she met a young man in Shymkent who invited her to the caf and
then to the park for a walk. When she got into his car, the young
man took her to Turkestan and sold her. The other girl came to
Shymkent for work. When she arrived, a young man used the same
scheme to kidnap her. The woman operating the ring explained that
she, a mother of five children and two grandchildren, was only in
the business because she needed to feed her family.

LABOR EXPLOTATION


19. February 5, "Vremya": Three Uzbek citizens, a father and his
two sons, were sold for $200 and forced to work on a farm for more
than 18 months in Atyrau. The father and his eldest son escaped
from the farm and asked transport police officers at Kulsary train
station for help. The police rescued the youngest son and initiated
a criminal case against the owner of the farm.


20. February 23, Interfax, Aikyn: A 35-year-old man was arrested
in Aktobe for selling a homeless man and woman for approximately $50
each. Both victims worked under threat of physical violence. The
trafficker was arrested after a local woman reported the
exploitation to police. The Aktubinskaya DVD has received other
reports of homeless people being sold and are investigating whether
the same man was involved in other cases.

21. April 8 Interfax, April 20 Zakon.kz: Police officers have
freed 25 Afghans who were forced to live and work in a mill in
Karaganda. The Afghans reported to the police that they were lured
to Kazakhstan with the promise of well-paid jobs. However, they had
not been paid and police found a sack of dead pigeons, which the
workers had been eating. Because the Afghans refused to file a
complaint, the owner will not likely be charged with trafficking,
but merely fined for using illegal laborers.

DEPORTATION OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS


22. February 18 Interfax: Migration police officers and the city
prosecutor's office conducted a four-day operation at markets
throughout Astana. Of the 1,715 foreign citizens found in the
markets, police found that 173 were in the country illegally.
According to the migration police, the construction crisis has
forced many illegal workers to the markets. Local employers are
also bearing responsibility -- two citizens of Kazakhstan were fined
for hiring illegal workers.

ASTANA 00001977 004.3 OF 004




23. February 18 "Express-K": Seven foreigner workers from Agip
were detained in Atyrau. The workers, two from Great Britain, two
from India, one from the Philippines, one from Algeria, and one from
Uzbekistan, were working on a construction project in Karabatan.
Police found that all seven were in the country on visitor visas and
were deported.


24. February 12, Interfax: In Aktobe, 32 Chinese citizens working
"for Sinoil" were detained. 25 had come to Kazakhstan with business
visas and did not have permission to work. Administrative cases
were filed against the 25 without proper visas and against the seven
others for violations of registration requirements. Since the
beginning of the year, 939 foreign citizens, mostly from Central
Asia, have been charged with violations of registration and/or
residency requirements.

HOAGLAND