Almaty, Kazakhstan (AFP): Kazakhstan sentenced the high-profile leader of an unregistered opposition party to seven years prison on Wednesday, in a case rights groups have denounced as political persecution.
Marat Zhylanbayev, chairman of the pro-reform Alga Kazakhstan (“Forward Kazakhstan”) party, had repeatedly criticised the ruling government and had been in detention since May.
In a statement Wednesday, a court in the capital Astana sentenced him to seven years for an array of criminal offences, including supporting an “extremist organisation”.
The court’s main charge was that he had ties to Mukhtar Ablyazov, the exiled leader of a fellow opposition party and the arch opponent of the country’s ex-ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The court also banned Zhylanbayev from taking part in any “social and political activities”, including using social media, for a period of three years.
Zhylanbayev is a well-known long-distance runner in Kazakhstan and has completed some of the world’s toughest desert marathons in America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
He shot to prominence after rare anti-government protests broke out last year, which triggered a sweeping crackdown and the resignation of the government.
Despite the promise of reforms, inequality and corruption persists in Kazakhstan and human rights violations remain a major problem, activists say.
