Editor Of Shut-Down Kazakh Magazine Ends Hunger Strike

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- The editor of a Kazakh magazine that was shut down by authorities ended an 18-day hunger strike on February 5 due to poor health.

Gulzhan Erghalieva (eds: a woman), a prominent journalist who has been under pressure from law enforcement agencies for years, began the hunger strike on January 19 in the Almaty offices of her magazine, Adam Bol (Be A Human), to protest its closure by authorities.

In December, an Almaty court ordered Adam Bol to be closed for "propagating war."

That ruling came weeks after the magazine published an interview with opposition activist Aidos Sadyqov, who lives in exile in Ukraine.

In the interview, Sadyqov lambasted Russia for its involvement in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Ramazan Esergepov, the president of the NGO Journalists in Trouble, joined Erghalieva's hunger strike on January 26 but stopped after being hospitalized with heart problems on February 1.