Watchdog

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A court in Kazakhstan's largest city has sentenced 13 political activists to up to five years in prison on extremism-related charges that they reject.

All 13 were activists with the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) of fugitive businessman and former Energy Minister Mukhtar Ablyazov, who was convicted in absentia of murder and embezzlement, and the Koshe party.

The court sentenced four of the activists -- Abai Begimbetov, Askhat Zheksebaev, Qairat Qylyshev, and Noyan Rakhymzhanov -- to five years in prison.

The other nine got various parole-like restrictions on their freedom for terms from one to two years, with seven also sentenced to 100 hours of compulsory labor per year. The nine sentenced to restricted liberty will not be allowed to change their place of residence or leave the Almaty city limits.

The hearing, which was conducted online with the defendants appearing virtually from a remand prison, was interrupted several times as the defendants chanted, "We are not extremists!"

During their trial, the defendants claimed they only participated in peaceful protests and exercised their constitutionally protected rights.

The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law issued a statement condemning the sentences and saying they showed that "the ossified authoritarian system will not allow people intent on democratic change to join together."

Ablyazov is an exiled former head of BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh authorities who has fought multiple extradition battles over accusations that he embezzled billions. The government designated the DVK an "extremist' organization in March 2018.

Human Rights Watch earlier this year criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. Several hundred people have been prosecuted for membership in the Koshe party.

The Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the Central Asian country.

With reporting by AFP

MOSCOW -- Imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny says prison officials in Russia have declared him a person "who espouses an extremist and terrorist ideology," but officially no longer regard him as an escape risk.

Navalny wrote on Instagram on October 11 that the prison commission voted for the new designation unanimously. As a result, he will now have to wear prison trousers with a green stripe down the leg.

Navalny, an anti-corruption lawyer, said that the terrorist designation is normally reserved for "Muslims, nationalists, and soccer fanatics."

The same commission canceled the designation of the 45-year-old Navalny as an escape threat, which he has had since his arrest in Moscow in January. Navalny and his lawyers had complained that the flight-risk designation amounted to torture because it meant that guards had to wake him every hour each night to check on him.

"This is good news," Navalny wrote. "The checks on 'extremists' and 'terrorists' are not as exhausting as for 'flight risks'.... No one checks them."

"I was afraid that I would be obligated to kiss [President Vladimir] Putin's portrait or to memorize quotations from [former President Dmitry] Medvedev, but this hasn't happened," he quipped. "Just over my bunk there is a little sign saying I am a terrorist."

Navalny did not say why officials decided to designate him as a terrorist, but earlier this year his Anti-Corruption Foundation and his network of regional offices were designated "extremist organizations" by the Russian Justice Ministry.

The change in his status has not been officially confirmed.

Navalny was arrested in Moscow in January after returning from Germany, where he underwent medical treatment for a near-fatal nerve-agent poisoning that he suffered in Russia in August. He and his supporters say the poisoning was carried out by Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives at the behest Putin in retribution for Navalny's political activities.

In February, Navalny was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for purported parole violations during his time in Germany in connection with an earlier conviction he dismissed as politically motivated.

Also on October 11, Navalny congratulated Dmitry Muratov, editor in chief of Russia's independent Novaya gazeta newspaper, on his "well-deserved" Nobel Peace Prize.

"From all my soul I congratulate Dmitry Muratov and Novaya gazeta on winning the Nobel Peace Prize," a message posted on Navalny's Twitter account said.

Muratov and investigative journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines won the prestigious award last week "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression."

SEE ALSO:

'An Argument For The Truth': Novaya Gazeta Editor's Nobel Prize Seen As 'A Shield' For Embattled Russian Journalists

Some of Navalny's allies and supporters had criticized the Nobel Committee's choice, saying the opposition leader would have been a more deserving winner.

After winning the prize, Muratov said he would have given it to Navalny and dedicated the award to the paper's six journalists who have been killed in connection with their work.