Watchdog

DUSHANBE -- A court in Dushanbe has sentenced a Tajik man to 17 1/2 years in jail for insulting the president, calling for extremist actions, and being a member of the banned opposition movement Group 24.

The Ismoili Somoni District Court in the Tajik capital also ruled on March 4 that Umedjon Solehov cannot be involved in any business activities for five years after completing his jail term.

Solehov was arrested in October after he was seen in an online video of a gathering by Tajik migrant workers in Russia, calling on Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to resign.

Solehov insisted that he had never been a member of Group 24, which is led by fugitive tycoon-turned-opposition-leader Umarali Quvatov.

Last year, Tajik authorities blocked hundreds of websites after Group 24 used social media to call for a mass antigovernment protest in Dushanbe.

Quvatov, who once had close ties to President Emomali Rahmon's family, left Tajikistan in 2012 and is thought to be living in Turkey.

BERYOZOVKA, Kazakhstan -- Four children have required medical assistance after they fell ill in a Kazakh village where many residents have experienced fainting spells and other symptoms in recent months.

Beryozovka resident Tilek Temirghaliev told RFE/RL that his 11-year-old son and three local girls were taken to a hospital in the district seat, Borili, on March 2 after they lost consciousness, but that doctors refused to hospitalize them.

He said they were sent home after they felt better.

Hospital deputy director Darigha Qabdenova denied that four children had fainted. She told RFE/RL that "the situation in Beryozovka is good now."

Dozens of Beryozovka's 1,300 residents, mainly teenagers, have fainted for unexplained reasons since November 28.

Residents and local environmentalists say the fainting spells are caused by a toxic gas from a nearby oil and gas field. They have urged the authorities to relocate them.

In January, Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Uzaqbai Qarabalin said the residents will not be relocated as Beryozovka is not close enough to the field to qualify as an "ecological disaster zone."