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{{Infobox Politician
|name=Galymzhan Zhakiyanov <br />Ғалымжан Жақиянов
|nationality=[[Kazakhs|Kazakh]]
|image= Zhakiyanov Galymzhan.jpg
|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1963|5|8|mf=y}}
|birth_place=[[Kuigan (village)|Kuigan]], [[Kurshim (district)|Kurshim District]], [[East Kazakhstan Province]], [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
|death_date=
|death_place=
|party=[[Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan]]
|relations=
|spouse=Karlygash Zhakiyanova
|children=Two sons
|residence=
|occupation=Politician and businessman
|religion=
|signature=
|website=
|footnotes=
}}

'''Galymzhan Zhakiyanov ''' ({{lang-kk|Ғалымжан Жақиянов}}) is a Kazakh businessman and politician. He owns several companies in Kazakhstan and has served as the governor of Semipalatinsk province.  He was imprisoned from 2002-2006 on charges of abuse of office. He was born in 1963 in Eastern Kazakhstan.  He graduated from [[Moscow]] [[Bauman Moscow State Technical University]] in 1986 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  G. Zhakiyanov worked for a time as a manager at a Soviet military plant. Right before the breakup of the Soviet Union, he started with other partners own business operating a coal and natural resources company in [[Kazakhstan]].

==Politics==

In 1994, G. Zhakiyanov was appointed governor of [[Semipalatinsk]] Province in the newly independent [[Republic of Kazakhstan]]. From 1997 until the end of 2001, he served as Governor of the province of [[Pavlodar]].

In 2001, G. Zhakiyanov along with [[Oraz Jandosov]], vice premier-minister RK, [[Mukhtar Ablyazov]], minister of industry, [[Nurzhan Subhanberdin]], the president of Kazkommerzbank, Tolen Tokhtassynov, the member of Parlament RK, and other top politicians and businessmen of the Republic founded and later was elected as the chairman of the [[Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan]] (DCK). It was a political movement which advocated democratic reform in Kazakhstan, including multi-party political campaigning, free and open elections, and an independent media and judiciary.  The [[Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan|DCK]] opposed the authoritarian politics of President [[Nazarbaev]], and as organizers of opposition to his regime, G. Zhakiyanov and his supporters were subjected to repression for their political convictions.

In 2002, G. Zhakiyanov was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of office. Many international human rights organizations<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |title= Amnesty International Report 2003 - Kazakstan|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR01/001/2004/en/7ff8510f-d60a-11dd-bb24-1fb85fe8fa05/eur010012004en.html}}</ref> and governments, including those of the US<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |title= The Department of State|url=http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/43226.pdf}}</ref> and the EU,<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |title= European Parlament |url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/fd/dcas20060425_06/dcas20060425_06en.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |title= CONCERNS IN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P5-TA-2003-0064+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=MT}}</ref> declared the charges against G. Zhakiyanov to be politically motivated and recognized him as a political prisoner. He was released from prison in 2006.
 
The same year, G. Zhakiyanov became chairman of the Civil Society Foundation.

==Business==

In 1990 he established with [[Akezhan Kazhegeldin]] (later was the premier-minister of Kazakhstan in 1994-1987), the Semey Corp. and became its president.

In 2008, he started new business ventures in China and Mongolia related to coal and iron ore mining. G. Zhakiyanov is now the chairman of the board of two companies: MECAP Ltd., and ALGT Ltd.

==Personal life==
G. Zhakiyanov got married to [[Karlygash Zhakiyanova]] in 1984. Karlygash worked as a school teacher and as a manager in non-government organizations. In 2002, K. Zhakiyanova participated in the political movement [[DCK (Buckethead album)|DCK]], founded the human rights organization Pravosoznanie which contributed significantly to the cause of releasing political prisoners in Kazakhstan. Currently, she assists her husband with his business activities in [[China]].

G. Zhakiyanov has two sons - Berik and Elezhan. Berik (1985) graduated from the [[University of Texas]] in 2008 and now studying at [[Harvard_University|Harvard]]. Elezhan (1993) is studying at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], class of 2016.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3996/is_200507/ai_n15704840/?tag=content;col1 The Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan: A Case Study in Economic Liberalization, Intraelite Cleavage, and Political Opposition] (in English)

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[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani businesspeople]]