Case details and biography of Zhanatbek Beksultan, a Kazakh citizen from Xinjiang Xinjiang’s Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture sentenced to 15 years

On August 21, 2026, this website learned of the case details and biography of Zhanatbek Beksultan, a Kazakh citizen from Xinjiang Xinjiang’s Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture who was sentenced to 15 years. They are reported as follows:

Zhanatbek Beksultan: Born on November 13, 1988, he is from Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, and his Kazakh name is Zhanatbek Beksultan. He was formerly a farmer and herder in the 7th Company of the 67th Regiment of the Production and Construction Corps in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County, and later became a taxi driver. He is a Chinese prisoner of conscience.

Because he grew up in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, he became an ordinary farmer and herder in the 7th Company of the local 67th Regiment of the Production and Construction Corps after reaching adulthood; as time passed, he married and had children, becoming the father of two children, and also became a taxi driver; his life had originally been peaceful and orderly, but starting in 2018, he and his family experienced an unexpected man-made disaster;

On January 31, 2018, he attended a birthday gathering for the daughter of Imam Lawuerzibai Yizibasha’er of the Islamic religion in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County, who had invited him. He was subsequently arrested at his home by police together with his wife on February 6, after which he lost contact with the outside world; the reason was initially unknown, but his family later learned that he had been arrested on the charge of “illegal religious gathering.” Moreover, as that year saw the greatest number of arrests and convictions under the Chinese Communist regime’s high-pressure, strict-control campaign against ethnic minorities including Uyghurs and Kazakhs in Xinjiang, all 41 people, including men and women and married couples, who had attended the birthday gathering with him and his wife were successively arrested by police; afterward, 20 of the women were released one after another after being detained for between six months and one year, but of the other 21 men, all classmates and married, 17 were swiftly sentenced in the same year in which they were arrested to harsh prison terms ranging from 12 to 23 years, except for four who had to be released because of their health conditions; in the absence of either a lawyer or family members, he too was given a 15-year prison sentence by a court of the Chinese Communist authorities for “the crime of promoting extremism” and “the crime of gathering to disrupt social order.” His sentence is scheduled to end on February 5, 2033.

He is currently serving his sentence at Gaoquan Prison of the Seventh Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (Gongqing Town, Karamay, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; postal code: 834034‌).