Bekzat Maksutkhan

Extra Bio Info:

Bekzat Maksutkhan is detained for his religious freedom advocacy. 

In November 2025, Kazakh officials arrested Maksutkhan and 18 other human rights activists for protesting China's arrest of a Kazakh truck driver and its broader abuse of Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims in Xinjiang Province, China. Chinese authorities have perpetrated genocide and crimes against humanity against Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang on the basis of religion since 2017. 

In April 2026, District Court Judge Yerzhan Baibolov sentenced Maksutkhan to 5 years' imprisonment for "inciting ethnic hatred."