Satire has long been a form of political expression around the world. In some countries, including the United States and many other nations, satire is considered protected speech. But as a pending case in Kazakhstan shows, humour can be considered a crime punishable with a prison sentence.

The case in question involves Temirlan Yensebek, who runs a satirical Instagram channel called Qaznews24. The channel features blatantly phoney reports meant to amuse readers while highlighting important issues relating to current affairs.

Roughly a year ago, Yensebek posted an item accompanied by a song called “Yo, Russians,” which contains mocking lyrics about Russians. At the time of publication, social media in Kazakhstan was aflame in response to provocative comments made by Russian TV presenter Tina Kandelaki that the Russian language was allegedly being oppressed in Kazakhstan. Following this incident, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry banned Kandelaki from entering the country.

On January 17 this year, the police unexpectedly raided Yensebek’s home and arrested him, opening a criminal case on suspicion of “inciting ethnic hatred through publication on social networks.” An Almaty court ordered two months of pre-trial detention for Yensebek, who faces up to seven-years in prison, if convicted.

The case has generated widespread attention in Kazakhstan, with many believing Yensebek is being unfairly targeted. Serik Beysembayev, a sociologist who heads the Paperlab Research Center, an Astana-based non-governmental organisation, believes that Yensebek’s case is not really connected with the crime he is suspected of, but is motivated by a general desire of Kazakh authorities to silence nettlesome critics. Yensebek’s Instagram channel often pokes fun at President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s administration.

Adil Jalilov, founder of a watchdog media project, Factcheck.kz, suggested the timing of Yensebek’s detention could be connected to the return to the White House of Donald Trump. Kazakh officials may have acted out of a belief that the new Trump administration would not complain about what is widely viewed as action to suppress free speech.

“It is quite possible that Temirlan’s case opens a new season of hunting for dissent in Kazakhstan,” Jalilov wrote on the Factcheck.kz website.

The current case is not Yensebek’s first run-in with authorities. In 2022, he came under police investigation for a satirical post that angered members of parliament and other top officials. Officials eventually dropped the investigation without bringing any charges against him. At that time, investigators decided that publishing plainly evident satire could not be considered deliberately spreading mis- or disinformation.

Yensebek’s is also not the only high-profile case of late in Kazakhstan involving the criminalisation of humour. A Kazakh court last July gave a comedian 10 days in jail on an obscenity charge.

Officials in Kazakhstan have struggled in recent years to regulate social media in ways that reduce the proliferation of mis- and disinformation. Rights watchdogs say governmental regulatory efforts have gone too far in restricting freedom of expression. 

“In June, Kazakhstan adopted a new mass media law that threatens freedom of speech and the right to information,” international watchdog HRW noted in its annual report on Kazakhstan. “The law extends the definition of mass media to online publications, requiring that they be registered and have a physical presence in Kazakhstan, and grants the government expansive power to deny accreditation to foreign media representatives if their materials contain unspecified ‘propaganda of extremism.’”

Almaz Kumenov is an Almaty-based journalist.

This article first appeared on Eurasianet here.