Kazakh intelligence services have detained a professor from Uzbekistan. He is suspected of espionage.
Kazakh security services have detained a professor from Uzbekistan on suspicion of espionage.
Ikbolzhon Karaboev, a professor at Maksut Narikbayev University and an Uzbek citizen, has been detained in Kazakhstan. He is suspected of espionage, but official details of the charges, including information about which country he allegedly served, have not yet been released.
According to the BBC, Karaboev was detained on July 3 in Astana. Several plainclothes men came to his home and informed him of the suspected espionage. The professor lived in Kazakhstan with his wife and three minor children.
According to a source close to Karaboev, he is charged under Article 176 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan. This article provides for liability for the transfer, collection, theft, or storage of state secrets in the interests of a foreign state or organization, as well as for other actions by foreigners directed against the national security of Kazakhstan.
The circumstances of the case remain unclear. The BBC contacted the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, as well as the country's consulate in Kazakhstan, for comment, but received no response. Maksut Narikbayev University also declined to comment.
Karaboev specialized in international relations, regional integration, and cooperation between Eurasian states. In April, he completed, but has not yet published, a study on the legal, political, and strategic approaches of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to critical mineral resources. This topic is being considered as one of the possible reasons for the Kazakh intelligence services' interest in the scientist, but there is no official confirmation of this connection.
According to a source close to him, Karaboev's private lawyer is currently unable to access his client because permission from Kazakhstan's National Security Committee is required. The lawyer claims that the issuance of such permission has been delayed for several weeks.
Karaboev graduated from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent, then earned two master's degrees in France and a doctorate in public international law from the University of Toulouse. Before moving to Kazakhstan, he taught in France.
According to the BBC, Ikbolzhon Karaboev is still listed as a faculty member at Maksut Narikbayev University.