RSF - Reporters sans frontières
RSF - Reporters sans frontières
05/07/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/08/2026 10:54
Faced by Kazakhstan’s silence about Kazakh blogger’s murder in Ukraine, RSF turns to UN
Kazakh blogger Aydos Sadykov's murder almost two years ago in Ukraine, where he lived in exile, is still unpunished. The suspected hitmen, two Kazakh nationals, are still at large and it is not known who ordered the hit. In response to Kazakhstan's silence and judicial inaction, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is referring the case to the United Nations (UN) protection mechanisms in an attempt to get answers from the Kazakh authorities.
The co-founder of the YouTube channel BASE, which exposed Kazakh government corruption, Aydos Sadykov died on 2 July 2024, 13 days after being badly wounded in a shooting attack in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Two Kazakh nationals with suspected links to Kazakh law enforcement were identified by Ukrainian investigators as the suspected killers, but there has been little to no response from Kazakhstan to Ukraine's requests for judicial cooperation, and the investigation in Ukraine has stalled.
Faced with this impasse, RSF has - with the agreement of his widow, fellow journalist and BASE co-founder Nataliia Sadykova - decided to refer the case to the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of Opinion and Expression. This entity, composed of independent experts tasked with examining human rights violations, must document this case and obtain answers from Kazakhstan.
"The cycle of impunity must be broken. The Kazakh authorities must now respond to Ukraine's requests and provide information about the identified Kazakh suspects in order to advance the investigation into the murder of their citizen. RSF's referral to the UN protection mechanisms marks an important step. The objective is clear: for the United Nations to fully take up the case and hold Kazakhstan to account.
Antoine Bernard
RSF Director of Advocacy and Assistance
Continuing threats
Since Aydos Sadykov's death, Nataliia Sadykova has tirelessly sought to identify those who ordered his murder and bring them to justice, despite being subjected to harassment. The latest example is a lawsuit filed against her in Ukraine in April by Gadzhi Gadzhiev, a Russian-Kazakh businessman who allegedly tried to have a BASEvideo about him taken down in 2023 and who, RSF has learned, is allegedly linked to the murder. He accuses Nataliia Sadykova of posting content about him on her YouTube channel that damages his reputation.
Refugees in Ukraine for the past decade because of a defamation investigation in Kazakhstan, Aydos and Nataliia Sadykova jointly ran the independent YouTube channel BASE, which investigates corruption within the Kazakh elite and has more than a million followers. Despite living in exile, the couple continued to be subjected to threats, surveillance and harassment campaigns, especially on Telegram.
Kazakhstan and Ukraine are ranked 149th and 55th respectively in RSF's 2026 World Press Freedom Index.
Published on 07.05.2026
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