In August 2021, police opened a criminal case against Aleksandra Nazarenko, a villager who campaigned against a gold mining project owned by Altynalmas in northern Kazakhstan. She is accused of disseminating deliberately false information and “inciting social hatred.” She risks a term of up to ten years in prison without hope of a non-custodial sentence. Prosecutors strain to link her to a banned opposition movement. 

On 27th of June the court in Stepnogorsk found Aleksandra Nazarenko guilty of spreading false information and handed non-custodial sentences. At the last minute prosecutors reduced the charge from the more serious accusation of inciting social hatred. The presiding judge concluded that Aleksandra's conviction fell immediately under an amnesty. This decision left Aleksandra Nazarenko free and able to continue her activism, however authorities in Bestobe are trying to prevent this.