LGBTI rights defender Temirlan Baimash questioned by police on false complaint
On 12 January 2026, Saryark Police questioned human rights defender, Temirlan Baimash on a complaint filed by a representative of an anti-LGBTI group, in relation to an incident that occurred on 22 November 2025.
Temirlan Baimash is a youth and LGBTI rights defender from Kazakhstan, and a co-founder of the youth-led grassroots initiative QUEER.KZ. He advocates for the rights and visibility of LGBTIQA+ people.
On 12 January 2026, Saryark Police questioned human rights defender, Temirlan Baimash on a complaint filed by a representative of an anti-LGBTI group, in relation to an incident that occurred on 22 November 2025.
Temirlan Baimash is a youth and LGBTI rights defender from Kazakhstan, and a co-founder of the youth-led grassroots initiative QUEER.KZ. He advocates for the rights and visibility of LGBTIQA+ people.
On 12 January 2026, Saryark Police questioned Temirlan Baimash following an incident in a cafe in Astana on 22 November 2025. Video evidence provided by the human rights defender shows a pro-nationalist and anti-LGBTI vigilante group physically and verbally assaulting him and LGBTI rights defender Zhanar Sekerbayeva. Following the incident, a false complaint was filed by an informal leader of the anti-LGBTI group, alleging that Temirlan Baimash had in fact physically attacked her in the cafe. The video evidence confirms this to be false. Currently, the human rights defender is a ‘witness’ in the criminal investigation launched against him by the police. During the questioning, the human rights defender, in the presence of his lawyer, reaffirmed that the anti-LGBTI group in question had launched an attack against him and Zhanar Sekerbayeva.
On 22 November 2025, when the authorities arrived to the cafe in Astana, they failed to detain individuals belonging to the anti-LGBTI group and instead, arrested Temirlan Baimash. Zhanar Sekerbayeva, who fled to a nearby shop to avoid being attacked and harassed, was also arrested. Both human rights defenders were taken to a Police Precinct in Saryarka, where they were detained for three hours and released shortly after. The authorities refused to provide a reason for their arrest.
The continued intimidation and harassment of Temirlan Baimash occurs in the context of the law against so-called ‘LGBTI propaganda’, adopted in Kazakhstan on 30 December 2025. This law was introduced to outlaw the so-called ‘dissemination of information containing propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation and pedophilia’, in the media and online. Similar laws are currently enforced in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia, where the authorities have disproportionately used them to target LGBTI rights defenders and other groups for their human rights work. LGBTI groups are directly harassed by authorities and increasingly marginalised from society.
Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by the ongoing harassment of Temirlan Baimash. The organisation believes that he is being targeted as a result of his peaceful and legitimate human rights work in an increasingly hostile environment for LGBTI rights defenders in Kazakhstan.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in the Republic of Kazakhstan to:
- Cease the harassment, intimidation, and targeting of human rights defender Temirlan Baimash;
- Conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the physical and verbal attack against Temirlan Baimash and Zhanar Sekerbayeva on 22 November 2025, and ensure it is capable of holding those responsible accountable;
- Ensure Temirlan Baimash and other LGBTI human rights defenders receive timely and comprehensive protection from any form of aggression or reprisal;
- Guarantee that LGBTI rights defenders can carry out their legitimate and peaceful human rights work without fear of reprisals and free of restrictions, in accordance with Kazakhstan’s international human rights obligations.
