Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Kazakhstan

Supporters Greet Freed Kazakh Opposition Leader

Ghalymzhan Zhaqiyanov and his wife (file photo) (RFE/RL)

15 January 2006 -- Hundreds of supporters greeted Kazakh opposition leader Ghalymzhan Zhaqiyanov today as he arrived home after more than three years in prison.

TEXT SIZE - +

January 15, 2006

The crowd chanted Zhaqiyanov's name as he emerged at a train station in the southeastern city of Almaty.

Asked how he felt, Zhaqiyanov replied "excellent" but declined to answer questions about his political plans.

On 14 January, Zhaqiyanov's wife said he was freed on parole after judges rejected a prosecutor's appeal against his early release.

Zhaqiyanov co-founded the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan movement (DVK) in 2001. He was sentenced to seven years in prison the following year on abuse-of-office charges while governor of Pavlodar Oblast. DVK was banned in 2004.

Zhaqiyanov's supporters and rights groups say his imprisonment was politically motivated.

(AP, Reuters)

Central Asia In Focus

THE COMPLETE STORY: Click on the icon to view a dedicated webpage bringing together all of RFE/RL's coverage of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

A vendor in the central Bosnian town of Zenica sells heart-shaped cushions with proclamations of love for 1 euro each.

Love It (Or Hate It), It's Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, the Western holiday celebrating love, has become a global phenomenon over the past two decades. The fall of communism and the emergence of the Internet have helped February 14 become something of an unofficial international day of romance. However, not all the passions the holiday stirs are related to love. While some countries have openly embraced the holiday, others are attempting to ban it or replace it with local customs. More

Production and distribution of rap music is not officially banned, but it

Yo! Turkmen Rappers Flip The Script On Repression

For a growing number of Turkmen youth, rap music has become a way to express their daily struggles and inspire political change in one of the world's most oppressive countries. More