Saken Seyfullin

Saken Seifullin (, Säken (Säduaqas) Seifullin; 15 October 1894 – 25 April 1938) was a pioneer of modern Kazakh literature, a poet, a writer, and a national activist. He was the founder and the first head of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan. His controversial writings promoting Kazakh independence led to his execution in 1938. The Soviet government posthumously rehabilitated him in 1957, during the de-Stalinisation period.

Biography Seifullin was born in a nomadic settlement in what is today Qarağandy Region.

Civil War When, on 4 June 1918, the White Guard conducted a revolution, Seifullin was arrested and sent to Petropavlovsk jail. He was put in a 'Death Carriage' of Ataman Boris Annenkov, where he spent 47 days. He broke out of Kolchak Prison and reached his village by July. After two months, he was forced to flee to Taraz.

Capture and execution Seifullin was arrested by agents of the NKVD from Moscow on 25 April 1938 and executed in Almaty, Kazakh SSR, deemed a 'threat to society' and a 'nationalist'. However, he was rehabilitated in 1957.