This archive report was first published on 17 August 2019.
On August 17, 2019, a dramatic night unfolded in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, as hundreds of supporters gathered outside the court where Serikjan Bilash, a vocal critic of China's policies in Xinjiang, was set to appear.
Bilash, who had been detained and flown to the capital Nur-Sultan in March, had been held under house arrest. Critics connected his arrest to pressure from China, Kazakhstan's economically powerful neighbour.
"I had to end my activism against China. It was that or seven years in jail. I had no choice," Bilash told AFP at a celebratory midnight feast with his family and supporters.
Under the terms of his plea bargain, Bilash agreed to accept guilt over inter-ethnic incitement charges triggered by his call for an "information Jihad" against the Chinese authorities over their policies in Xinjiang earlier this year.
He will also be unable to leave the city of Almaty for the next three months, he said, while noting he expected his supporters to continue taking the work of his informal Atajurt activist group forward.
"I had to do this for my family and my children," he told AFP as supporters in high spirits drank tea and ate a traditional meat-and-potato dish.
