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Kazakh Oil Workers Union Activist's Daughter Found Dead


ZHANAOZEN, Kazakhstan -- The missing daughter of an oil workers union activist in western Kazakhstan is reported to have been found dead, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Bolat Atabaev of the opposition People's Front movement told RFE/RL on August 24 that 18-year-old Zhansaule Qarabalaeva was found dead with a fractured skull on the outskirts of the town of Zhanaozen in Manghystau region.

Qarabalaeva, the daughter of Qudaibergen Qarabalaev, an activist for OzenMunaiGaz workers, disappeared on August 21.

The People's Front movement has been monitoring the ongoing strike by oil workers in Manghystau for several weeks.

The strikers are demanding a wage increase, equal rights with foreign workers, the release of jailed union lawyer Natalya Sokolova, and the lifting of restrictions on the activities of independent labor unions in the region.

More than 410 of them have been fired since the strike began. Several others have been brought to trial on charges of organizing unsanctioned mass gatherings.

Sokolova was found guilty of "igniting social hatred" and jailed earlier this month for six years.

Read more in Kazakh here
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