Map of Kazakhstan

Human rights defender Ms Roza Tuletaeva, one of the leaders of the workers' strike committee of the oil company 'Ozenmunaigaz', was arrested on 3 January 2012 at her home in Zhanaozen, Western Kazakhstan.

During the strike that started in May 2011, Roza Tuletaeva was one of the participants and leaders of the movement as well as the main information contact for journalists and international organisations.

The strike of the oil extraction industry workers in Kazakhstan started on 26 May 2011 with initial demands relating to salary rise and working conditions improvement. During the strike, which lasted for almost 7 months, about 1200 workers were fired. The strike ended with the violent dispersal of a demonstration on 16 December 2011, when violent clashes erupted between strikers, demonstrators and police. Security forces present at the demonstration opened fire on civilians, reportedly killing dozens and leaving thousands injured.

On 3 January 2012, representatives of the State Security Committee came over to the house of Roza Tuletaeva's mother and carried out a search looking for 'proofs'. It is unclear whether they presented a search warrant or not. Then, they arrested Roza Tuletaeva without informing her family of the charges she was facing. She is currently detained at the General police department of Zhanaozen. From 16 December 2011 until her arrest, she had been brought to the police department several times for interrogation and released each time. The nature of the charges pending against her and the reasons for her current detention remain unclear. Her family and colleagues fear that she may face the criminal accusation of “inciting social disorder”, as was the case of Ms Natalya Sokolova, a human rights defender and former legal representative of a trade union formed by employees of the Karazhanbasmunbay oil company, who was sentenced to six years imprisonment in August 2011.

After the violent events of 16 December 2011, a state of emergency was proclaimed in the city of Zhanaozen; communications lines were cut and access to the town restricted. Due to the lack of information, it is still extremely difficult to evaluate the real number of those killed. Kazakhstan officials have announced 16 persons dead, but Front Line Defenders continues to receive information from local sources regarding unconfirmed reports on a number of dead bodies with traces of wounds in local mortuaries and on cases of illegal cremations. On 27 December, the prosecutor opened an investigation into the security forces for “exceeding authority or official powers with the use of weapons and special tools”, which is ongoing. A number of people have been arrested since, including strikers and political activists who supported the strike, and it is feared that they may be ill-treated in detention.

Front Line Defenders believes that the detention of Roza Tuletaeva is directly linked to her activity as a peaceful defender of labour rights in Kazakhstan. It is feared that Roza Tuletaeva may be subjected to illegal methods of investigation and to the ill-treatment while in detention.