PEN is deeply concerned by reports that the Kazakh prison authorities are denying medical treatment to poet Aron Atabek. The 61-year-old poet is reportedly suffering intense spine and leg pain due to injuries sustained during an assault by a police officer in 2006. According to Atabek’s son, the poet’s left leg is now so swollen at the knee that he cannot bend it and he is finding it very difficult to walk. His pleas to be examined by a doctor, he says, have been refused. He has also been denied the use of a cane as a walking aid. PEN calls on the Kazakh authorities to provide immediate medical care to Aron Atabek, and to comply with the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which state that a prisoner complaining of ill health must be examined on a daily basis by a prison medical officer.

Take Action

Please write messages of support to Atabek in jail: He has already received a number of letters from PEN members, and, according to his son, these have helped maintain his morale.

Send your messages to:
(Russian)
Арон ЕДИГЕЕВ (АТАБЕК)
Учреждение АП-162/1, ул.Циолковского бн.

140000 г. Павлодар, 
Казахстан 


(English)
Aron EDIGEEV (ATABEK)
Uchrezhdenie AP-162/1, Tsiolkovskogo Street b/n
140000 Pavlodar City
Kazakhstan


Write a letter to Kazakh authorities: Your voice matters. Use the information below to write and send a letter.

Write to your ambassador to Kazakhstan, urging him/her to raise the issue of Atabek’s health (and lack of proper medical attention) with the Kazakh government: Addresses can be found here.

Spread the word: The simplest and most effective response to censorship is to spread the word. Use the social media tools below to share this page and get the word out. Tweet: "#Kazakhstan must provide jailed poet #AronAtabek with medical attention for injuries http://ow.ly/ygR2R @MVD_RK @pen_int @PENamerican"

Background Information

In December 2012 (while in prison on other charges), Atabek was sentenced to two years’ solitary confinement in a maximum security jail—1,600 km away from his family—for writing The Heart of Eurasia, a book that fiercely criticized President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

PEN campaigned for Atabek’s release from solitary detention and for his transfer to a prison within reasonable visiting distance of his family in the city of Almaty. In October 2013, Atabek was moved out of solitary confinement and was placed in a detention center nearer to his family, allowing his son to visit him for the first time in almost two years. However, in March 2014, Atabek was moved once again, this time to a prison in Pavlodar (1,400 km from his family). According to his son, Atabek is being kept under 24-hour video surveillance.

For long periods of his incarceration, Atabek has been kept in extremely harsh conditions: he has been denied contact with his family, telephone calls, writing materials, and access to natural light. For one month in October 2013, Atabek’s whereabouts were unknown to his family, due to the prison authorities’ refusal to confirm or deny that the poet had been moved to another prison.

In May 2014, PEN International, in collaboration with Article 19, made a submission to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of Kazakhstan in which we highlighted the harsh conditions in which Aron Atabek was being held and called on the Kazakh authorities to comply with the UN’s basic rules for the treatment of prisoners.

To learn more about the poet, journalist, and human rights defender, Aron Atabek, please see our earlier calls to actions and updates.

Write A Letter

  • Call on the Kazakh authorities to comply with the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners by providing Atabek with adequate medical attention;
  • Urge the Kazakh authorities to transfer Atabek to a prison within reasonable visiting distance of his family.

Send Your Letter To

President of Kazakhstan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev
President’s Office
010000 Astana
Kazakhstan
Fax: +7 7172 559338

Minister of Internal Affairs
Kalmukhanbet Kassymov
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Tauelsizdik Avenue, 1
010000 Astana
Kazakhstan
Email: [email protected]
 

Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for Kazakhstan in your country if possible. You can find a list of representatives here.

***Please send appeals immediately ***