The Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski is facing criticism after the Kazakh government funded a £5,100 trip for him to observe elections and quoted him praising the country’s “functioning democracy”. Kawczynski, a trade envoy for the prime minster, Rishi Sunak, travelled to watch parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan in March amid concerns among human rights groups about the treatment of Zhanbolat Mamai, the leader of the unregistered Democratic party. Mamai was this month banned from political activism and journalism for six years. Kawczynski’s trip, which was officially declared, was paid for by the Kazakh embassy, with £4,500 spent on flights, £400 on accommodation and £200 on food. Afterwards, he was quoted on the Kazakh government website as saying: “I must applaud the will of the Kazakh people in working together in such a short period of time, after the fall of the Soviet Union, to create this functioning democracy.” Following the vote in March, independent election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) in Europe said Kazakhstan had made progress towards democratic elections but noted limits on “fundamental freedoms” and said some political groups were prevented from participation. Its preliminary conclusions said: “Further changes to the legal framework are needed to provide a sufficient basis for conducting democratic elections.” Kazakhstan is rated as 23 out of 100 in the Freedom House index, which assesses people’s access to political rights and civil liberties in countries across the world. It says: “Parliamentary and presidential elections are neither free nor fair, and authorities have consistently marginalised or imprisoned genuine opposition figures.” Asked about the trip and whether he stood by his statement that Kazakhstan was a functioning democracy, Kawczynski told the Guardian: “I sat on the platform with four OSCE monitors and they were saying the same as me… “You are trying to equate a post-Soviet satellite state with 30 years of independence to our own particular type of democracy. It’s impossible to develop a democracy in 30 years [in] to one that’s taken us 1,000 years to create. Kawczynski continued: “When you think they are sandwiched between Russia and China, two of the most authoritarian dictatorships in the world, I think it’s extremely important to engage with countries like Kazakhstan that are genuinely trying to move towards a democratic system. Certainly, everything I saw there led me to believe – by talking to young journalists, NGOs and other people – that they are making significant strides. Whether or not those are the exact words I used, I don’t recall.” “Trying to suggest, as the Guardian always does, and this is so typical of leftwing liberal elite bias, in the first inference that because my flights and hotel accommodation are being paid by the Kazakh government that I am somehow being used as a tool is so shallow and disrespectful ... If the House of Commons had a budget, if journalists did not constantly denigrate parliament and parliamentarians about being able to travel abroad, we would have a budget to do these things, but of course we don’t, so we have to go at the invitation of foreign countries.” Mamai was targeted in February 2022 after being accused of playing a part in orchestrating protests that swept Kazakhstan in January last year. The protests led to the killing of 238 people and human rights groups say 10,000 were detained. Earlier this year, Tory MP Robert Buckland and former director of public prosecutions Ken Macdonald were denied access to Mamai while on a high-profile trip to examine Kazakhstan’s human rights record. Mihra Rittmann, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said: “No election in Kazakhstan since independence has been found to be free and fair in accordance with international standards of independent election monitors. “There are [also] concerns about lack of political pluralism, the space for media, and there are longstanding human rights issues in Kazakhstan, and restrictions on civil and political rights in relation to freedom of association, assembly and expression.” Tom Brake, the director of Unlock Democracy, said: “Whether Mr Kawczynski wanted it or not, his trip to observe the elections in Kazakhstan and his comments about it have been used by the Kazakh government to bolster their claim that their elections demonstrate they are dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy.” • This article was amended on 25 April 2023 to correct the spelling of Mihra Rittmann’s surname.