Trial resumes of Kazakhstan human rights activist

Vadim Kuramshin, a well-known human rights activist in Kazakhstan, has ended his hunger strike after authorities agreed to resume his trial.

Kazakhstan is a police state ruled by the family clique of despotic president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Earlier in the year, Vadim's campaigning against torture in prisons forced the governing party to agree to a 'national strategy' to end this widespread abuse. However, shortly after, Vadim himself was arrested.

Vadim is clearly the victim of a carefully orchestrated plot by the Kazakh secret services. He had been given a video of officials receiving bribes.

He released the video online and prepared a press conference. However, he was then convinced to attempt to reclaim a bribe, and was arrested in the process.

Now the state is claiming that Vadim was using the video to blackmail an official! Karibai Kusainov, who gave Vadim the video and then convinced him to reclaim the money, is now the state's key witness against Vadim.

Because of the gaping holes in the state's case, the stooge judge stopped proceedings to give them more time to prepare.

It is an improvement that Vadim's case has been resumed, but does nothing to change the nature of the charges against him. We must demand his release, along with all political prisoners in Kazakhstan.

Campaign Kazakhstan

http://campaignkazakhstan.org

This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 7 August 2012 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.

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