This week the trial of Temirlan Yensebek – the founder of the satirical Instagram account Qaznews24 – began after being postponed twice. Yensebek was detained in January and charged with inciting interethnic discord under Article 174 of the Kazakh Criminal Code. The offending material was his use of the rap track “Yo, Orystar” (Kazakh for “Yo, Russians”) in a January 2024 post titled “Kazakhstani rappers recorded a harsh response to Tina Kandelaki.”
The case touches on several intersecting issues, from the delicate balance Astana seeks to maintain in its relationship with Moscow, to the risky tides of nationalism, to the basic matter of free speech. The bigger themes aside, it starts with an insulting Russian and ends with a Kazakh man in court for insulting Russians.
An Insulting Russian, Insulted
Kandelaki, a Russian TV presenter and the deputy general director of Gazprom-Media, made provocative statements in January 2024 about Kazakhstan in reaction to the renaming of several train stations in the country. The stations, some with utterly Russian names like “Railway siding No. 13,” were given actual names that happened to be in Kazakh, like “Akshi railway siding.” Uralsk was to be renamed Oral, a swapping of the Russian name of the city (and the station) for the Kazakh version.
Few things spark a firestorm across the former Soviet Union like language politics. Kandelaki took to Telegram to complain. “In Kazakhstan, the Russian language is slowly but surely being pushed out at the state level,” she said. Kandelaki called it a “dangerous trend,” claiming that in the Baltics “everything started small, and then turned into a real snowball: Russian schools were closed, Soviet monuments were removed, the Russian language was banned, and, finally, pensioners were kicked out into the cold.”
This is part of a larger narrative of the supposed oppression of ethnic Russians, which Russian commentators – and Russian President Vladimir Putin – have used to justify Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry reacted swiftly, announcing that it had barred Kandelaki from entering Kazakhstan. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Aibek Smadiyarov explained: “If you don’t like someone, you won’t let them into your home. We will do the same… The state never forgives such things. She won’t come to Kazakhstan, and if she does, she won’t enter.”
The Satirist
And here we get to Yensebek.
As reported by Vlast.kz, which is following the trial closely, the prosecution alleges that on January 21, 2024, Yensebek published a post on his satirical Instagram Qaznews24, “with the aim of insulting the national honor and dignity of citizens of Russian nationality.”
At the time, Qaznews24 had just over 34,000 followers.
Yensebek joined the Oyan, Qazaqstan movement in 2020 and founded Qaznews24 – inspired by a Russian satirical publication called Panorama – in April 2021. Although its posts were of a clearly satirical nature, within a month Yensebek was accused by the authorities of spreading misinformation and “fake news.” Yensebek’s home was searched and he was put under criminal investigation. Factcheck.kz issued an open appeal – under the slogan “satire is not a crime” – that was supported by various human rights organizations.
Human Rights Watch Central Asia Researcher Mihra Rittmann wrote a dispatch concluding, “The authorities may be trying to send the message that satire has no place in Kazakhstan, but all they have shown is that they can’t take a joke.”
In December 2021, while Yensebek was still under investigation, it was revealed that his cellphone had been infected with the Pegasus spyware.
In 2022, the misinformation case was dropped by the Almaty police.
Then, in January 2025, Yensebek’s home was again searched. He was detained and charged with inciting hatred against Russians.
A Problematic Old Rap
Accompanying Qaznews24’s post – titled “Kazakhstani rappers recorded a harsh response to Tina Kandelaki” – the prosecution has accused Yensebek of using “a musical composition that expresses openly provocative elements of an interethnic nature. The lyrics of the song contain obscene language directed at representatives of the Russian nationality.”
Citing “forensic psychological-philological examination” – i.e. a humorless “expert” listening to the track – the prosecution said the content “contains signs of insult to the national honor and dignity of representatives of the Russian nationality,” and this justifies the charge of incitement of hatred under Article 174.
As Orda.kz reported, the song “Yo, Orystar” is old. No one knows precisely who created it, but it appears to have originated in the early 2000s, given references in the track to a 2005 Uzbek movie.
“The composition has no artistic meaning. It contains many obscenities and insults addressed to Russians and Uzbeks, making it virtually impossible to recite, as the track will turn into a continuous three-minute squeak,” Orda.kz wrote.
In court, Yensebek said he didn’t take the song seriously, that no one did. “[H]ow can you take some stupid rap seriously that consists of swearing? Because this song is nonsense, no one took it seriously.”
Yensebek recounted in his court testimony that he heard the song in 2022, as it was being shared as a protest anthem against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“In 2022 and 2023, this song was heard everywhere, and no one was prosecuted,” he said, responding to the prosecutor who noted that the song isn’t about Ukraine and that a separate criminal case had been launched against the creator (who is unknown.) For 20 years, Yensebek pointed out, the authorities found no need to pursue the song’s creator.
In defense of satire, and of its local roots, Yensebek noted that historically, aitys – a contest of improvised oral poetry between two singer-poets – has elements of what we call in the modern era rap and satire.
“The same aitys is also a kind of satire, when aityskers, playing the dombra, could ridicule an unjust bay, sultan, or biy who made an unfair decision in court, they ridiculed the unfair, dishonest, corrupt government. I continued the same Kazakh tradition, but in the form of journalism,” he said.
Hatred or Pretext?
During his testimony on April 10, Yensebek was asked if he had any hostility toward ethnic Russians.
He pointed out that his girlfriend is an ethnic Russian from the northeastern Kazakh city of Oskemen (or Ust-Kamenogorsk, in Russian).
“Everything that is written in the indictment is nonsense,” Yensebek said, noting that he has many Russian friends.
Yensebek’s girlfriend, Maria Kochneva, was subject to a 10-day administrative arrest in July 2024 after she performed at a rap freestyle event in Almaty. What song did she perform, you ask? “Yo, Orystar” of course. She was charged with petty hooliganism and using profanity in public, but not incitement to hatred.
Yensebek’s lawyer, Zhanara Balgabayeva, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the charges against her client were “merely a pretext” to jail Yensebek. The offending post was clearly marked as satire and Yensebek did not author or perform the song, which she noted was not banned.
Yensebek’s supporters have argued that the case against him is not just ridiculous, but that it is a selective use of the law to punish a government critic. Supporters protesting the trial and staging single-person “satire is not a crime” pickets have been detained. The trial is also being held in a reportedly tiny court, meaning that while it is “open,” very few have been able to attend. Even Yensebek is not present in the court, instead being made to testify via video link.
Supporters outside the court chanted “Ashiq sot!” (“Open court!”)
If convicted, Yensebek could be subject to an up-to-seven year prison term.
