Washington, April 14 (NationPress) The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) has vehemently denounced the sentencing of 19 Kazakh citizens, asserting that they faced repercussions for advocating the release of an ethnic Kazakh who was "illegally detained" in East Turkistan, a region also referred to as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

The exiled government characterized this territory as the ancestral home of the Uyghurs and a residence for millions of Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic groups.

This condemnation follows a court ruling in Kazakhstan that found the 19 activists guilty in a case intertwined with an anti-China demonstration held last year near the border.

On April 13, the court reportedly ruled that they had incited "inter-ethnic discord" during a protest advocating for the release of the ethnic Kazakh detained in Xinjiang.

The ETGE expressed alarm, stating that Kazakhstan has charged its own citizens with "inciting ethnic hatred" due to the burning of a Chinese flag and a portrait of President Xi Jinping, whom they hold "directly accountable for the genocide against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and all Turkic peoples in Occupied East Turkistan".

The exiled authorities accused China of operating "concentration camps and slave factories" in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic individuals, including citizens of Kazakhstan, are subjected to "enslavement, torture, and organ harvesting".

The ETGE emphasized that the protest on November 13, 2025, was not an act of "incitement" but a "plea for justice". They claimed that the authorities of Kazakhstan are misusing Article 174 of their Criminal Code against their own citizens following a complaint from Beijing.

In their critique, the ETGE remarked, "This is not justice but submission to Chinese imperialism".

They continued, "A truly sovereign government does not arrest its own citizens on orders from a foreign regime engaged in genocide against its own Turkic kin. It does not silence those advocating for their brothers and sisters in Chinese concentration camps. It does not prosecute its own people while rewarding genocidal invaders with trade agreements and silence. Every concession made by Astana to China undermines every Uyghur, Kazakh, and Turkic individual in Occupied East Turkistan and endangers Kazakhstan's own sovereignty and future".

The ETGE has called for Kazakhstan's authorities to promptly release all 19 convicted individuals, revoke all restrictions, and dismiss all charges against them.

They have urged global action to safeguard all Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Turkic individuals detained in Xinjiang and demanded a denunciation of China's "genocide" in the region.

The organization also appealed to the United Nations and the Organization of Turkic States to oppose China's "colonization and genocide" campaign and acknowledge East Turkistan as an "occupied territory, supporting its decolonization and restoration of independence".