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‘We Are Horrified’: Academic Freedom at Risk With Uzbek Professor’s Arrest in Kazakhstan

Dr. Ikboljon Qoraboyev’s arrest on espionage charges has sent shockwaves through Kazakhstan’s increasingly internationalized academic sector.

Dr. Ikboljon Qoraboyev (left) poses for a photo in June 2026 while co-hosting a roundtable discussion at MNU on China-Central Asia relations in partnership with the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies of Fudan University.

In late August, BBC Uzbek broke the news that an Uzbek professor working in Kazakhstan had been arrested nearly two months prior on allegations of espionage. Very little is known about the case of Dr. Ikboljon Qoraboyev, a 46-year-old international relations professor at Maksut Narikbayev University in Astana, originally from Andijan, Uzbekistan. 

Questions from the BBC Uzbek and other media outlets to both Kazakh and Uzbek authorities have yielded silence in answer. When Vlast, an independent Kazakh media outlet, asked Maksut Narikbayev University (MNU) about Qoraboyev, the university distanced itself from the professor, stating that he “is not currently a professor at the university. For any further information concerning his detention, please refer to the relevant competent authorities.”

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In late August, BBC Uzbek broke the news that an Uzbek professor working in Kazakhstan had been arrested nearly two months prior on allegations of espionage. Very little is known about the case of Dr. Ikboljon Qoraboyev, a 46-year-old international relations professor at Maksut Narikbayev University in Astana, originally from Andijan, Uzbekistan. 

Questions from the BBC Uzbek and other media outlets to both Kazakh and Uzbek authorities have yielded silence in answer. When Vlast, an independent Kazakh media outlet, asked Maksut Narikbayev University (MNU) about Qoraboyev, the university distanced itself from the professor, stating that he “is not currently a professor at the university. For any further information concerning his detention, please refer to the relevant competent authorities.”

According to the initial BBC Uzbek report, and additional reporting by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, Azattyq, on July 3, people in civilian clothes took Qoraboyev from his home in Astana where he lived with his wife and three children. A relative who spoke to BBC Uzbek said they were told he was being charged with espionage under Article 176 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code.

Article 176 defines espionage as the collection, theft or storage of “state secrets” by a foreign national for the purpose of transfer to a foreign state, or an international or foreign organization “for use against the national interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan.” Conviction carries a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years.

BBC Uzbek reported that Qoraboyev’s most recent research focused on critical minerals in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, noting he’d produced a paper in April titled “Comparative legal, political and strategic narratives around important minerals in Kazakhstan and........

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