Hundreds of migrant workers from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, some of whom are accused of illegal residence, have been wandering in front of the Saryogoch Court in the Turkestan region of Kazakhstan for a week.
They say that they wear thin clothes and spend the night on the street and eat there.
A 35-year-old woman from Tajikistan told the reporter of the Kazakh branch of Radio Ozodi that since 2012, she had been cleaning streets and houses, washing pots and pans and floors in Almaty, and she lived on this account.
In August of this year, his registration expired, but due to his poor health, he could not submit the documents again. Now he is being sued on suspicion of illegal residence.
“There is no work in Tajikistan. Salary is low. If we calculate in Kazakh currency, 40-50 thousand coins per month. This is not enough for life. Here you can earn up to 300 thousand coins a month. “I bought a house in Tajikistan with the money I earned in Kazakhstan,” this woman said.
Another woman from Karakalpakstan worked in the fields with her husband in Almaty. Her husband had a document, but he was working without registration all this time. This couple has been waiting for the court’s decision for four days. They sleep in the car and eat only bread and water to save money.
According to the Saryogoch Court, since the 10th, the court has reviewed the cases of more than five thousand foreign citizens. About 1,000 more cases are pending. Due to the increase in the number of cases of administrative violations, the Saryogoch Court extended its working hours and recruited additional staff from the Turkestan Regional Court.
Berik Kayipov, head of the Special Court of Administrative Offenses in Saryogoch, told the Kazakh section of Radio Ozodi that the court will fine foreign citizens 86,000 coins or expel them from the country.
After Russia, Kazakhstan is the second country receiving immigrants from Tajikistan. With the increasing influence of international sanctions on Russia and the decline of this country’s economy, some Tajik immigrants turned to Kazakhstan. They mainly work in the market and construction.
Migrants used to be happy that, compared to Russia, there is less police harassment and xenophobia in Kazakhstan. Now they say that the situation is similar to Russia.
Source : Радио Озоди