Janbolat Mamai

Janbolat Mamai (born 15 June 1988) is a Kazakh journalist, opposition leader, and political activist who serves as the leader of the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, and was previously the editor of the Tribuna newspaper. Since his first arrest in 2012, Mamai has become a prominent figure in the Kazakh opposition. In his articles, Mamai discussed social problems and alleged corruption among high-ranking government officials. In a series titled “Billionaires. Who are they?" Mamai criticized many of Kazakhstan's richest figures.

Zhanaozen In December 2011, Mamai descended onto the city of Zhanaozen to provide media coverage of the Zhanaozen massacre. The following June, Mamai was arrested on charges of "inciting social hatred" and "calling for the overthrow of the public and constitutional order". The main topic of the newspaper was the observance of human rights and political freedoms in Kazakhstan. Over the period of its existence, the publication has been repeatedly subjected to lawsuits against its publications. Several times, Tribuna was unable to pay for lawsuits, and shut down, only to then came out under a different name.

While Mamai served as editor of Tribuna, the newspaper was hit with a libel fine after accusing a government official of embezzling money meant to go to hosting the 2011 Asian Winter Games. The presiding judge sentenced Mamai to two months in pre-trial detention, pending an investigation.

On 7 September 2017, the Medeu District Court in Almaty sentenced Mamai to a restricted three year sentence, in which he would be freed from prison, but banned from conducting journalism, have his freedom of movement restricted, and would perform 120 hours of community service.

Democratic Party of Kazakhstan and subsequent activities Following his three year period of restrictions, Mamai unsuccessfully attempted to get his Democratic Party of Kazakhstan registered with the government. Mamai wrote that of these approximately 100 companies, about half went bankrupt, and just 10 or so were registered in his family's name. and on March 16, Zhanbolat was detained on charges of insulting a government official and spreading deliberately false information. Mamai was handed a six year suspended sentence in April 2023, during which he would be prohibited from participating in political activity and journalism. Mamai pledged to appeal the sentence.