Kazakh authorities should immediately release three activists in western Kazakhstan and drop charges against them, Human Rights Watch said today. The activists face prosecution in retaliation for peaceful protests in April and May 2016 against land code changes.
A RAMPAGE by gun-toting Islamists in a provincial city has exacerbated an already tense situation in what has generally been the most tranquil of Central Asia’s five post-Soviet states.
One of the men blamed by authorities in Kazakhstan for an armed raid on a national guard base, the deadliest attack in the country's history, had posted a video online that was sympathetic to Islamic State.
Kazakhstan, the second-largest state of the former Soviet Union, has always stood out for the stability of its political regime. In office since 1989, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is a champion of sorts, having held onto power longer than any other leader of a former Soviet republic.
The president of Kazakhstan has warned that foreign forces are trying to destabilise the central Asian state, in his first public comments since a shootout between police and gunmen left more than a dozen dead in the western city of Aktobe on Sunday.
New details on Prince Andrew’s dealings with the Kazakh elite further underscore London’s relationship with Astana.
Oil-rich Kazakhstan on Friday accused organisers of anti-land reform demonstrations last week of trying to overthrow the Central Asian country's government.
