Campaign Kazakhstan reporters
Well-known human rights activist, Vadim Kuramshin, has been arrested and now faces a lengthy prison sentence.
Campaign Kazakhstan reported that the Appeal Court of the Zhambul region of Kazakhstan has decided to revoke the decision of a jury at Vadim Kuramshin’s previous court trial.
The Appeal Court has now decided to re-open the case following further investigations.
Vadim Kuramshin was arrested on 23 January this year. He was falsely charged with extorting money from the public prosecutor, Mukhtar Uderbaev, who Vadim himself wanted to take legal action against.
The whole trial clearly violated the country’s criminal procedure code and was constantly postponed, causing Vadim to declare a hunger strike in order to get the court to reconvene.
On 28 August, the Taraz city court pronounced sentence on Vadim. Rather than condemn Vadim to 14 years imprisonment in a special regime colony as the state prosecutor asked, the court judge decided to release him, with just one year of conditional bail.
However, the Appeal Court has now revoked that decision.
On 31 October armed police raided Vadim’s flat. They had no valid arrest warrant but he was taken to prison in Petropavlovsk where conditions are horrendous.
Having cut his own veins, he was given emergency treatment. Then he was put on the road, under escort, to travel the nearly 2,000 kilometres to Taraz for his retrial.
- Send urgent protests to the Kazakhstan embassy: Ambassador Kairat Abusseitov, 33 Thurloe Square, London, SW7 2SD.
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For updates see: www.campaignkazakhstan.org
The Kazakhstan trade union and opposition leader, Esenbek Ukteshbayev, is returning to the country after a year in exile.
Despite the continuing threats to his life and liberty from the Kazakhstan regime, Esenbek is determined to continue the work of building his union federation, Zhanartu, and the Socialist Movement Kazakhstan.
The CWI emphasises that if anything untoward happens to Esenbek or threatens the safety of his family, it will hold the Kazakhstan authorities responsible.
