Watchdog

MOSCOW -- A founding member of the Pussy Riot protest group in Moscow, Maria Alyokhina, has been handed another 15 days in jail right after she served a similar jail term.

Alyokhina was expected to be released on March 14, but instead of letting her go home, a Moscow court sent her back to jail for another 15 days for "refusal to follow orders to move from one cell to another while in jail."

She was detained on February 28 and sentenced to 15 days in jail on a charge of disobeying police, which Alyokhina denied.

On February 8, Alyokhina was sentenced to 15 days in jail over an Instagram post in 2015, which a Moscow court found as "inciting hatred."

That post showed three girls in hijabs, one of whom had "VODKA DUDKA ISLAM" written on her clothes.

In September, a Moscow court found Alyokhina guilty of violating restrictive measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus by calling on people to protest against the detention of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

She was then sentenced to one year of so-called "restricted freedom," a parole-like sentence, which she called politically motivated.

Kazakhstan’s state anti-corruption agency said it has detained a nephew of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, the latest in a series of moves against his family.

Kairat Satybaldyuly, 52, was detained "on suspicion of abuse of power and embezzlement involving large sums of money," the agency said in a statement on March 13.

The statement added that investigation was under way to determine “Satybaldyuly’s possible involvement in other crimes that undermine state security.” It didn’t provide further details.

Nazarbaev, 81, resigned as president in 2019, picking longtime ally Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev as his successor. But he retained sweeping powers as the head of the security council, while many of his relatives continued to hold important posts in the government, security agencies, and profitable energy groups.

In January, protests over a fuel price hike turned violent across Kazakhstan, and Toqaev stripped Nazarbaev of the security council role, taking it over himself.

Just days after the protests, Nazarbaev's two sons-in-law, Qairat Sharipbaev and Dimash Dosanov, were pushed out of top jobs at two major state companies, QazaqGaz and KazTransOil, respectively.

Sharipbaev is widely known to be married to Nazarbaev’s eldest daughter, Darigha. Dosanov is the husband of Nazarbaev's youngest daughter, Aliya.

The National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, Atameken, announced the resignation of its chairman, Timur Kulibaev, who is also Nazarbaev's son-in-law.

On February 25, Darigha Nazarbaeva said that she was giving up her parliamentary seat.

Toqaev has said publicly that he wanted Nazarbaev's associates to share their wealth with the public by making regular donations to a new charity foundation.

Nazarbaev appeared in public for the first time in over two months this week as he attended a diplomatic conference in Turkey.

With reporting by Reuters