Samat Matsakov
Samat Matsakov is a Kyrgyzstani human rights defender and a lawyer. Licensed to practice criminal law, he acts as a defence attorney, focusing on freedom of speech restrictions and working against the state-administered mass prosecution of those charged with “calls for mass civic unrest.” He has defended human rights defenders and whistle-blowers Zhoomart Karabaev and akyn Askat Zhetigen, and was part of a collective defense for the human rights defenders and journalists from the investigative media outlet Temirov Live. Samat Matsakov has also worked on high-profile cases of alleged torture administered by the State Committee for National Security.
Human rights defenders (HRDs) in Kyrgyzstan are subjected to smear campaigns, attacks, intimidation, and harassment. Although there are no laws in place which directly target the work of HRDs, the legal system still does not offer protection for HRDs due to consistent corruption at all levels of government, the continuous practice of ill-treatment and torture with impunity, and the lack of independence of monitoring and oversight bodies.
