Click to expand Image Kazakhstan's national flag in Astana, January 13, 2023. © 2023 Turar Kazangapov/Reuters On April 22, courts in Kazakhstan delivered guilty verdicts in two unrelated criminal cases. Though the cases are distinct, they share commonalities: both defendants are outspoken advocates for the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people in Kazakhstan and how the authorities handled each case raises concerns that homophobia and retaliation were factors in the defendants’ treatment and prosecution.Zhanar Sekerbaeva, cofounder of the feminist group Feminita, was found guilty of “battery” and fined 173,000 Tenge (approximately USD$380). In November 2025, a group of people aggressively disrupted a gathering Sekerbaeva was attending with colleagues and friends at a café. In the aftermath, authorities detained and criminally prosecuted Sekerbaeva but did not pursue those who accosted the group, including by shouting anti-LGBT slurs and filming them without their consent.Meanwhile, another court convicted Amir Shaikezhanov, an openly gay activist and the owner of a popular gay bar in Almaty, of rape and sentenced him to five years in prison. Shaikezhanov acknowledged the sexual encounter at issue, which occurred in March 2025, but denied the rape charges. The landlord of Shaikezhanov’s bar terminated the lease after his arrest, forcing the bar’s closure.Following Shaikezhanov’s arrest, however, his treatment in custody raises concerns. Security services initially interrogated Shaikezhanov about his LGBT rights activism. While in pretrial detention for 10 months, another detainee apparently recognized him and disclosed his sexual orientation to others. In February 2026, a court clerk disclosed his HIV status. Authorities moved Shaikezhanov to solitary confinement, ostensibly to protect him from abuse and threats from other detainees, but which isolated him further and affected his mental health. Shaikezhanov’s lawyer requested bail for him half a dozen times, but her petitions were rejected.These convictions come at a time of increasing hostility toward LGBT people in Kazakhstan and follow the adoption of an openly discriminatory anti-LGBT “propaganda” law that came into effect in March and which bans any materials authorities consider “propaganda of nontraditional sexual orientation.”Kazakh authorities are responsible for ensuring the right to a fair trial, regardless of defendants’ sexual orientation or peaceful activism, and for ensuring that homophobia in the criminal justice system does not lead to violations of defendants’ rights.