VZCZCXRO1703
OO RUEHIK
DE RUEHTA #2163/01 3550913
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 210913Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7015
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 2263
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1626
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2327
RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFAAA/DIA WASHDC
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 1671
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 002163 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR S/CT (RHONDA SHORE), SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, AND NCTC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER EFIN KCRM KHLS AEMR ASEC KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM 
 
ASTANA 00002163  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Kazakhstan continued to aggressively combat 
domestic terrorism and extremism, and took tangible steps to 
continue cooperation and information sharing with various countries 
and international organizations.  Kazakhstan also continued to 
strengthen its engagement in international counterterrorism 
activities.  Kazakhstan detained and prosecuted suspected 
terrorists, and promoted domestic counterterrorism activities.  The 
government of Kazakhstan designates 16 groups as banned terrorist 
and extremist organizations.  The full text of Post's 2009 Country 
Report on Terrorism is attached in paragraphs 3-9.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Kazakhstan continued to aggressively combat domestic 
terrorism and extremism.  Kazakhstan's Ministry of Interior 
announced in the press on January 10 that Ministry of Interior 
troops have new responsibilities related to the fight against 
terrorism under a new military doctrine, and the Ministry held an 
anti-terror exercise in January.  Nationwide media also announced 
that in August the National Security Committee (KNB), and the 
Ministries of the Interior, Defense, and Emergency Situations held 
anti-terror exercises at the international trade port in Aktau. 
(NOTE:  Aktau is Kazakhstan's largest port on the Caspian Sea and an 
important shipping site in the transportation of oil from Kazakhstan 
to Azerbaijan and Russia.  END NOTE.)  On August 28, Kazakhstan's 
President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed two acts to counter terror 
funding, specifically laws "On countering money laundering and 
financing terrorism," and "On making amendments and addenda to some 
legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on issues of 
countering money laundering and financing terrorism." 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Kazakhstan's cooperation with the United States included 
its hosting of a September 29-October 1 Legislative Drafting Expert 
Workshop on Counter-Terrorism.  During the seminar, Kazakhstani 
legal experts from both houses of Kazakhstan's Parliament, the 
General Prosecutor's office, and the Customs Control Committee 
reviewed Kazakhstan's counter-terrorism legislation, based on advice 
from U.S. and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 
experts.  During FBI Director Robert Mueller's November 17 visit to 
Astana, Kazakhstan's Prosecutor-General's Office and the U.S. 
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) signed a memorandum of 
understanding, stating the parties intend to cooperate in the fight 
against organized crime and money laundering.  Mueller also met with 
then-KNB Chairman Amangeldy Shabdarbayev, who agreed to intensify 
cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism.  Room for 
improvement remains in Kazakhstan's cooperation with the United 
States.  Kazakhstani government agencies have typically provided 
limited information on domestic terrorism cases and generally do not 
provide contextual information on cases reported by the press. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Kazakhstan has continued to detain and prosecute suspected 
terrorists.  The press reported five cases in which individuals were 
detained or sentenced for acts of terrorism, including the 
following: 
- In February, Kazakhstani press reported it detained an extremist 
group in Uralsk for distributing extremist religious literature, 
robbing a local gas station, and fighting with local police. 
- On April 16, the KNB press service announced that two Almaty 
courts sentenced five members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir religious 
extremist group to various prison terms.  In closed trials, the 
courts found the accused guilty of "inciting enmity" and "organizing 
activities of banned organizations" under Kazakhstani Criminal Code 
Articles 164 Part 2 and 337-1 Part 2. 
- On September 22, local press reported that the Astana City police 
detained a 23-year-old Uzbek citizen without identification.  After 
an investigation determined he was wanted by Uzbek law-enforcement 
agencies on suspicion of carrying out terrorist activities, the 
police arrested him, pending an extradition decision. 
- On September 24, nationwide media published an article stating 
that an Aktobe Province court sentenced six local people to 12-17 
years in prison for terrorism.  According to the press, the group 
intended to punish foreign investors and announce the jihad against 
infidels.  The six alleged terrorists reportedly planned to blow up 
oil companies' facilities in the region and possessed sufficient 
 
ASTANA 00002163  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
arms and explosives. 
- On December 2, Kazakhstan's Prosecutor General's Office announced 
that an Uralsk court sentenced a local resident to two years in 
prison for propagating terrorism.  The court asserted that during 
May-December 2008, the man "incited residents to take part in 
terrorist acts, and propagated terrorism by spreading materials of 
extremist content," in particular, video recordings of Said 
Buryatskiy, a propagandist of radical Islam. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In addition to the arrest and prosecution of terrorists, 
the government of Kazakhstan fined several individuals for carrying 
out illegal religious activity and banned over 200 forms of 
"extremist propaganda." 
- On January 20, the Zhambyl Police Department's press service 
publicized that a regional court fined three men for promoting the 
religious practices of the banned Tablighi Jamaat organization. 
- On February 26, the Atyrau Prosecutor's Office announced that a 
Western Kazakhstan region court fined another six members of the 
Tablighi Jamaat religious organization for carrying out illegal 
missionary activities. 
- On September 18, the Saryagash Region court in Southern Kazakhstan 
fined an additional seven missionaries for "propagating tendentious 
teachings of Islam," as an administrative violation of Kazakhstan's 
"Law on Freedom of Faith and Religious Organizations." 
- An Astana court also banned the import and distribution of more 
than 200 books, audio records, and leaflets.  In August, 
"Kazakhstanskaya Pravda," an official newspaper, published a list of 
all items the Astana court designated as extremist. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) To prevent radicalization and support other domestic 
counterterrorism initiatives, Kazakhstan actively promoted 
intercultural and religious dialogues.  Most notably, Kazakhstan 
hosted the third triennial Congress of World and Traditional 
Religions in Astana July 1-2.  Many of the 400 participants -- 
representing Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and other 
religious confessions -- praised Kazakhstan for its accomplishment 
in maintaining and promoting inter-confessional harmony. 
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has personally promoted 
inter-religious harmony by issuing congratulatory messages on 
religious holidays, which many Kazakhstani residents celebrate, such 
as Orthodox Christmas and Easter, and Eid al-Fitr.  During the 
October 26 opening session of the Kazakhstan People's Assembly 
(KPA), Nazarbayev also suggested the creation of a doctrine on 
national unity.  Nazarbayev advocated the doctrine focus on the 
shared priorities of Kazakhstan and the KPA, particularly 
multi-confessional concord.  During a November 12 visit to Astana, 
Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation 
in Europe (OSCE) Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said he believes 
Kazakhstan can serve as an example of the construction of 
interethnic and interfaith relations.  Subsequently, the Chairman of 
Kazakhstan's Senate, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, announced on December 3 
Kazakhstan's development of a program on the maintenance of 
interethnic and interfaith harmony within Kazakhstan's OSCE 2010 
chairmanship. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Kazakhstan also continued to strengthen its engagement in 
international counterterrorism activities.  On February 11, 
Nazarbayev ratified a 2007 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) 
agreement to actively advance cooperation in the fight against 
terrorism and extremism.  On November 19, SCO members also signed a 
protocol in Almaty to confirm the scheduling in September 2010 of an 
antiterrorism exercise, "Peaceful Mission-2010," in Kazakhstan.  The 
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) held an anti-terror 
drill in Aktau in October, with participation from various 
Kazakhstani security forces.  In addition to its activities within 
the framework of the SCO and CSTO, Kazakhstan also continued to 
participate in international nonproliferation groups, such as the 
Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and the Global Initiative to 
Combat Nuclear Terrorism. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In Kazakhstan, organizations -- typically referred to as 
"terrorist" groups -- are divided into extremist organizations and 
terrorist organizations.  The government of Kazakhstan currently 
designates 16 banned groups.  The Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) group remains 
 
ASTANA 00002163  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
the only organization designated and outlawed as "extremist" under 
the "Law on Extremism."  The list of 15 terrorist organizations 
remains unchanged since 2008. 
 
HOAGLAND