By The Diplomat | Created at 2026-09-03 09:46:42 | Updated at 2026-09-19 12:44:29
2 weeks ago
In late August, BBC Uzbek broke the news that an Uzbek professor working in Kazakhstan had been arrested nearly two months prior on allegations of espionage. Very little is known about the case of Dr. Ikboljon Qoraboyev, a 46-year-old international relations professor at Maksut Narikbayev University in Astana, originally from Andijan, Uzbekistan.
Questions from the BBC Uzbek and other media outlets to both Kazakh and Uzbek authorities have yielded silence in answer. When Vlast, an independent Kazakh media outlet, asked Maksut Narikbayev University (MNU) about Qoraboyev, the university distanced itself from the professor, stating that he “is not currently a professor at the university. For any further information concerning his detention, please refer to the relevant competent authorities.”
According to the initial BBC Uzbek report, and additional reporting by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, Azattyq, on July 3, people in civilian clothes took Qoraboyev from his home in Astana where he lived with his wife and three children. A relative who spoke to BBC Uzbek said they were told he was being charged with espionage under Article 176 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code.
Article 176 defines espionage as the collection, theft or storage of “state secrets” by a foreign national for the purpose of transfer to a foreign state, or an international or foreign organization “for use against the national interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan.” Conviction carries a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years.
BBC Uzbek reported that Qoraboyev’s most recent research focused on critical minerals in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, noting he’d produced a paper in April titled “Comparative legal, political and strategic narratives around important minerals in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.” Colleagues told BBC Uzbek that work was based on publicly available information. The paper has not yet been published.
In May, Qoraboyev posted on his LinkedIn about events hosted by the Center for Global and Regional Governance that he headed at MNU.
“On 27 April, we held a workshop on critical minerals and connectivity that brought together an impressive group of policymakers, diplomats, scholars, and experts representing Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, France, and the European Union. The level of discussion, the diversity of perspectives, and the engagement of participants clearly demonstrated the growing relevance of Central Asia in global geoeconomic debates,” he wrote.
Although Qoraboyev’s name has been removed from the center’s website – as it has been removed from MNU’s – the center’s most recent post on LinkedIn, from June, shows Qoraboyev co-hosting a roundtable discussion at MNU on China-Central Asia relations in partnership with the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies of Fudan University. Earlier posts depict Qoraboyev welcoming Dr. Johannes Baur, the head of cooperation at the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan for a guest lecture this summer.
The Kazakh authorities have not clarified the details of the allegations against Qoraboyev.
What is clear is the shockwave Qoraboyev’s arrest has sent across Kazakhstan’s increasingly internationalized academic sector.
If such a prominent scholar – one whose work touches on some of the most important topics and relationships in contemporary Kazakhstan – can be virtually disappeared for two months before news even surfaces of it, what hope do other scholars have of due process or fair treatment?
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Maia Chankseliani, a professor of comparative and international education at the University of Oxford, wrote a book in 2022 about universities across the former Soviet Union.
“One of the things that became very clear to me is that academic freedom is shaped by the conditions in which academics actually work, as well as by the freedoms they have on paper,” she told The Diplomat.
Chankseliani co-authored a paper with Qoraboyev in 2020 in which they dug into the contributions of higher education to local, national, and global development. In light of his arrest, the paper finds renewed – and painful – relevance.
“One of our findings was that limited academic freedom and institutional autonomy constrained universities’ ability to realise their wider contribution to society,” Chankseliani explained.
She found out about Qoraboyev’s arrest on August 27, when the BBC Uzbek report began to circulate among the wider academic community. Chankseliani was shocked and concerned.
“I know Ikboljon as a scholar and colleague, and it was extremely disturbing to learn that he had already been in detention for almost two months. I was also struck by how little information was publicly available about the case.”
Chankseliani stressed that her “key concern now is that his rights are fully respected, particularly his right to independent legal representation and a fair judicial process.”
Those concerns are valid and Chankseliani is not alone in airing them. On August 31, an appeal was posted on Change.org urging the government of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to ensure that Qoraboyev’s rights are respected.
“We write not to comment on facts that we cannot independently verify, but out of concern for due process and academic freedom more broadly,” the appeal states. “We are deeply concerned that the prolonged secrecy surrounding his case makes it difficult for his family, his colleagues, and the broader public to assess whether his fundamental rights – to a fair hearing, to legal representation of his choosing, and to humane conditions of detention – are being fully respected.”
According to BBC Uzbek, citing Qoraboyev’s relatives, the professor was provided a state-appointed lawyer who “came and left without a trace.” The family hired a private lawyer who has not been able to access their client. As Azattyq reported, “Since the case involves state secrets, permission from the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan is required to access it. And the committee is delaying issuing the permit.”
Uzbekistan has not publicly responded to the arrest of its citizen and the presumed allegation that it was spying on its neighbor.
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Qoraboyev is not the first scholar in Kazakhstan to be accused of espionage or, as in the case of Konstantin Syroezhkin, treason. In February 2019, Syroezhkin, a noted Kazakhstani Sinologist and chief research officer at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies, was arrested on treason charges. His arrest only came to light in May of that year. In October 2019 he was convicted under Article 175 of the Kazakh criminal code and sentenced to 10 years in prison after a closed trial.
Syroezhkin’s citizenship was a matter of some speculation as it appears he had obtained Russian citizenship but had not renounced his Kazakhstani citizenship. Notably, Kazakhstan does not recognize dual citizenship. In any case, Kazakhstan considered him a Kazakhstani citizen when it put him on trial – thus the charge of treason and not espionage, although the material acts in both articles are similar.
The details of Syroezhkin’s case remain unknown, although reporting at the time suggested that he may have “passed classified documents to people connected to Chinese intelligence.”
In 2024, Tokayev – himself a Sinologist – pardoned Syroezhkin.
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The Diplomat spoke to two Kazakhstan-based scholars about Qoraboyev’s arrest on condition of anonymity as both fear repercussions for speaking to the media. We’ll refer to them as Amina and Bekzod.
Amina’s research overlaps with that of Qoraboyev. They heard about the arrest through a group chat on August 27 and met to discuss with other scholars that evening.
“The first reaction was horror; the initial announcement only included that a professor who worked on critical minerals had been arrested,” Amina said. “This was particularly concerning for those of us who work in this area and were concerned about our research.”
Amina noted that colleagues with upcoming trips to Uzbekistan scheduled were considering cancelling.
“We were discussing how this would affect regionalism in academia. Will academics be afraid to work together?” the scholar remarked.
The lack of information about Qoraboyev’s case, and his present status, perpetuates a sense of uncertainty.
Bekzod said the news came as “a surprise and shock as Ikboljon didn’t have access to state secrets.”
“If he is accused on the basis of compiling publicly available materials and then publishing or sending them for a review, this puts many local and international scholars at risk of similar accusations and creates an atmosphere of fear,” Bekzod argued.
Chankseliani told The Diplomat that “Scholars may become more cautious about what they research or what they are prepared to say publicly. And once people begin asking themselves, ‘Could this research attract the wrong kind of attention?’ or ‘Should I really speak about this?’, something important has already changed. You do not need an explicit instruction telling academics what they cannot study for academic freedom to become constrained.”
“Limited press freedoms in Kazakhstan are known issues and these correlate with academic freedoms too,” Bekzod told The Diplomat. “Ikboljon’s case may further exacerbate fears among scholars and limit academic freedoms via institutional policies and most importantly, through self-censorship.”
The day after the news broke, Amina said, “there was a stronger feeling of solidarity, and many scholars started posting about it online.”
Qoraboyev is a distinguished scholar with a PhD from the University of Toulouse in France, MA degrees in international law and European law from the University of Montpellier 1 and a BA in international relations from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He has current affiliations with the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies and the Hague Research Institute. The latter describes his expertise as lying “in comparative regionalism studies, international relations, and international law, with a particular focus on Eurasia and Central Asia.”
In short, Qoraboyev is a showcase example of independent Central Asia’s modern academic sector and the fruits of internationalization. He is a scholar who went out into the world and returned to the region with his expertise; an Uzbek who lived and worked in Kazakhstan for years. His research revolved around some of the most dynamic topics in the region today.
In the last decade, Central Asia’s governments – with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the forefront – have invested heavily into the idea of regional cooperation. The region’s presidents meet annually and countless C5 platforms gather Central Asia as a bloc with an array of external powers, such as the U.S., China, Russia, the EU, Japan, South Korea and so on.
Qoraboyev’s arrest exposes the raw edge of suspicion that persists despite this growing regional closeness.
Kazakhstan has invested in internationalizing its universities and research centers, Chankseliani told The Diplomat. “It has encouraged its academics to build international collaborations and has actively sought to bring international universities and scholars into the country.”
Uzbekistan has invested heavily in the same kind of efforts.
“I think that openness has been an important part of the development of Kazakhstani higher education,” Chankseliani continued. “Internationalisation depends on trust. Academics cross borders, develop relationships with colleagues in other countries and exchange knowledge as a routine part of their work.”
“If international academics, or Kazakhstani academics working with international colleagues, begin to feel uncertain about whether ordinary academic activity is safe, that could undermine the international openness Kazakhstan has worked very hard to create,” Chankseliani said
Bekzod said they were already getting questions from international scholars “who were considering coming to Kazakhstan and who are now concerned.”
Amina noted that this incident will certainly silence some scholars in Kazakhstan, but not all of them.
“I don’t think that it will silence all scholars because some are already fighting back against it, but these are often (not all, but most) more established scholars who could possibly leave or are already working abroad,” they said.
Amina added that they had an upcoming presentation on critical minerals competition in the region. They had been joking this week with colleagues about being arrested, “to make light of the situation because we are horrified.”
