Abstract
This Article examines transnational repression, state-sponsored persecution of citizens, human rights defenders, journalists, members of diaspora, and critical voices located outside physical borders, as a systemic tool of political control employed by Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Based on analysis of legislation, published reports, UN Special Rapporteur findings, and case files, this Article provides three case studies that demonstrate different stages of an escalating trend towards transnational repression systems. From Kyrgyzstan, where the government has started to develop and implement harmful practices to persecute its citizens abroad, to a more established system in Kazakhstan, where numerous incidents of transnational repression showed more sophistication in their execution and scope. Then, to Russia’s more developed, structured, multilayered system of extraterritorial pressure that combines legal, administrative, digital, and physical methods of repression. Through comparative analysis of statutory frameworks, published data, and documented cases, this Article reveals how Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia extend state control beyond national jurisdiction by abusing legal provisions, exploiting administrative and criminal procedures, conducting digital surveillance, and threatening family members remaining in-country. Additionally, the case studies provide a picture of a growing regional network and collaboration among state actors. This Article also argues that transnational epression has deliberate policy aims and goals and is not isolated or random incidents but rather plays a part in larger governments’ agenda of authoritarian governance. These practices have intensified dramatically in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and coincided with the worsening of internal suppressive practices, such as abuse of counter-terrorism law, increased numbers of “foreign agent” designations, and escalated prosecutions of members of diaspora communities in absentia. Further, this Article indicates that these practices not only violate international human rights norms, as established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), but also create profound chilling effects on civil society, human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and opposition movements. Finally, this Article offers some recommendations for identifying, documenting, and challenging transnational repressions through legislation, litigation, advocacy, and accountability mechanisms.
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