Gulnara Bazhkenova

Gulnara Bazhkenova, a Kazakh journalist, columnist, and founder of Orda.kz, has faced sustained legal pressure and harassment linked to her editorial work. In December 2025, Orda’s offices were raided and she was placed under two months of house arrest over allegations of “distributing false information,” related to a police bribery case and a property dispute. She was sentenced to house arrest on December 2, 2025. In January 2026, her lawyer lost his license reportedly due to social media posts related to the raid while defending her.