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Kazakh Activists Rally In Support Of Jailed Journalist


Ramazan Esergepov being escorted by police to the courthouse in Taraz on August 8.
Ramazan Esergepov being escorted by police to the courthouse in Taraz on August 8.
Activists in Kazakhstan have started an action to support jailed journalist Ramazan Esergepov, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

The organizers of the action told RFE/RL that supporters in all of the country's regional capitals have handed letters addressed to Kazakh National Security Committee (KNB) Chairman Amangeldy Shabdarbaev demanding an explanation for what they called the abuse of Esergepov's civil rights.

In Almaty, the activists handed 60 such letters to the city's KNB Department.

Esergepov, the editor in chief of the weekly newspaper "Alma-Ata Info," was found guilty of releasing state secrets last year and sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month.

His colleagues say the charges against him are politically motivated.

The independent weekly -- which Esergepov founded -- has been closed down.
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