HRWF PRISONERS DATABASE

HRWF publishes an annual prisoners database to document FoRB prisoners around the world. We currently document prisoners in over twenty countries. To view the full 2016 prisoners list, click here.

HRWF 2016 Annual Report

Excerpt:

“Kazakhstan is a sparsely-populated country in Central Asia with a population of approximately 17 million. More than 70% of the population is Muslim, mainly Sunni of the Hanafi School, 26.2% is Christian, mainly Russian Orthodox, and the rest is composed of other religious or belief minorities such as Jews and non-believers.

The country’s ethnic composition is divided between two major groups: the Kazakhs (63.1% of the population, which are mostly Muslim) and Russians (23.7% which are mainly Christian). The Kazakhs became a distinct group in the 16^th century, only to be dominated two hundred years later by the Russians. Kazakhstan became a part of the Russian Empire in the 19^th century and then became the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936.

Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare its independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Nursultan Nazarbayev has been the country’s president since independence.”