Nurzhan Altaev was given a 10-year sentence earlier this month, and another opposition leader, Marat Zhylanbaev, is expected to see a similar sentence soon.
Kazakhstan’s authorities have arrested a range of civic and political activists since the beginning of May. Journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim was arrested for 25 days on May 1 for having “covertly called for a rally” during one of his livestreams, the prosecutor said. A number of other activists of the banned organization Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) were arrested in Almaty and fined for having taken part in an unsanctioned rally on May Day. In Astana, the police unlawfully detained for about one hour Vlast reporter Beiimbet Moldagali, who had gone to the site where DVK’s leader and fugitive opposition figure Mukhtar Ablyazov had called for a rally, which went deserted.