Kazakh NGO Urges Care For Jailed Company Head
October 31, 2009
ALMATY -- The head of a Kazakh nongovernmental organization is urging the country's ombudsman, National Security Committee (KNB) chief, and the prosecutor-general to ensure proper medical care is given to the jailed former president of uranium-producer KazAtomProm, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
Bakhyt Tumenova, who heads the Aman-Saulyq Foundation, said that she has sent letters to those Kazakh officials urging them to provide care to Mukhtar Dzakhishev, who was arrested along with several associates on fraud and embezzlement charges in May.
Tumenova said that the failure to give proper medical care to Dzhakishev could be considered torture. He was hospitalized last week for high blood pressure and heart problems, but later returned to jail at the KNB's detention center in the Kazakh capital, Astana.
Dzhakishev's relatives and lawyer say his health is deteriorating, but KNB officials say Dzhakishev does not need to be hospitalized.
Human rights activists and opposition leaders have said that the case against Dzhakishev is politically motivated.