Berzat is an ethnic Kazakh farmer from Emin County, Tacheng, China. In April 2017 the Chinese authorities came to his house and took him away accusing him of being a “state traitor”. According to Berzat’s relative interviewed by Amnesty International and based in Kazakhstan, Berzat was planning to move to Kazakhstan, and this may be the real reason for his detention, together with his ethnicity. After being detained he spent around a year in an internment camp in Emin County. He was then verbally informed of his 17-year sentence, and he is now detained in a prison in Shiho (Wusu) city. Allegedly, there was not an official trial and Berzat had no lawyer. Berzat’s relative said that once a month Berzat can speak with his father via video calls at a police station. Berzat’s relatives, some of whom are now Kazakh citizens, made an appeal for his release in Kazakhstan, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied that they could not interfere.