Events and opinions

In a case that is sending shockwaves through Kazakhstan’s non-governmental organization community, Yevgeny Zhovtis, one of the country’s leading human rights activists, was found guilty on September 3 of vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison. Prior to the reading of the verdict, Zhovtis denounced his two-day trial as a "political setup."

The advent of social networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has changed the nature of political dissent. But as this summer's unrest in Iran and China has demonstrated, authoritarian-minded governments have done their homework, and have kept pace with the revolution in communications.

The former chief of Kazakhstan's Committee of National Security (KNB) says the former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev "might" have been involved in the kidnapping of two high-ranking bankers in Kazakhstan.

On August 24 the legal system of Kazakhstan faced «double strike» from Almaty intelligentsia. The Almaty artists, musicians and actors decided to support the journalists of Respublica. Business Review. Bank Turan-Alem (BTA) filed a lawsuit in the amount of 80 million tenge against the newspaper due to the damage, caused to business reputation. On the other hand, creative people had own opinion on that situation. (photo: Kanat Ibragimov is taking off his underwear in support of BTA-Bank)

The claim BTA Bank filed against Kazakhstan’s opposition newspaper Respublika may lead to the closure of the newspaper, said deputy editor-in-chief Oksana Makushina.