Independence movements

Karakalpakstan: current constitutional status

Where the question stood on 22 September 2026: Karakalpakstan retains a constitutional secession right, but activism around it faces severe repression.

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Status verified as of 22 September 2026. Political positions change; this explainer describes the documented position on that date.

Current constitutional position

Karakalpakstan retains constitutional "sovereign" status and a right to secede from Uzbekistan by referendum, reaffirmed after the 2022 crisis. However, activists advocating self-determination or criticizing the government continue to face lengthy prison sentences, and the Alga Karakalpakstan movement was designated "extremist" in 2024, while accountability for the 2022 crackdown itself has been minimal.[1][2]

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: Following the withdrawal of the proposed amendments, Uzbekistan's revised constitution retained Karakalpakstan's constitutional right to secede from Uzbekistan by referendum.

  2. 2.

    Claim: Two years after the 2022 crackdown, Human Rights Watch reported that only three police officers had faced prosecution for related "illegal actions" (two sentenced to seven years for torture, one to three years for perjury and abandonment of duty), with investigations the Prosecutor General's Office announced in December 2022 into two deaths and weapons use producing no further public information; meanwhile, over 500 people were arrested after the protests, with 61 prosecuted in two major trials, including activist and lawyer Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, sentenced to 16 years, and five diaspora activists sentenced in absentia in September 2023 to terms of 3 to over 10 years; in February 2024, Uzbekistan's Supreme Court designated the Alga Karakalpakstan movement as "extremist."

    • Uzbekistan: 2 Years on, No Justice in Autonomous Republic (Human Rights Watch) link, Accountability and prosecutions sections. Advocacy organisation perspective Source record

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Printed from https://independenceatlas.com/movements/karakalpakstan/status · last substantive update 24 September 2026.