Janbolat Mamai

On 10 February 2017, in Almaty, at the editorial office of the independent newspaper Tribuna, in the apartments and relatives of Mamai, Imanbai, the accountant of the newspaper, and the founder of the newspaper publishing company, searches were conducted in the house of politician Tulegen Zhukeyev as a part of investigative actions carried out by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau regarding the alleged theft of money at BTA Bank.

On 7 September 2017, the court banned Mamai from being involved in journalism for 3 years.

In June 2012, after the Zhanaozen massacre, Mamai was arrested on charges of “inciting social hatred” due to his participation in the oil worker strike. He personally covered and commented on other publications about the rights of protesting oil workers and criticized the authorities regarding the prosecution of oil industry protesters, referring to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan and international laws that Kazakhstan has ratified and which guarantee citizens the right to peaceful rallies and protests. He spent several months in prison. Mamai was released on 13 July 2012.

Since September 2012, Mamai is the head of an independent newspaper Tribuna, which published highly critical materials regarding the current government and a number of officials. The main topic of the newspaper was the observance of the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Kazakhstan. Thus, the newspaper supported Max Bokaev and Talgat Ayan, human rights activists and civic activists who were sentenced to 5 years in prison for participating in a peaceful protest.

In 2007, he completed an internship at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Mamai then continued his studies at the Abylay Khan Kazakh University of International Relations and World Languages at the Department of English Philology.

Janbolat Mamai (Kazakh: Жанболат Мамай ) (born 15 June 1988) is a Kazakh journalist, political activist, leader of Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, editor of the Tribuna newspaper.