A court in Almaty prolonged on January 29 the pre-trial detention of five activists who had publicly voiced their opposition to the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan.
In late September 2024, just days ahead of a referendum to decide whether to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant, the police detained dozens of activists – 12 of them were detained for “attempting to organize mass riots.” Of these, seven were released on bail, but five remained in pre-trial detention for two months.
The Almaty court now re-issued the order to prolong their detention for another month.
Tolegen Berlikozha, their lawyer, said their prolonged detention is unnecessary.
“The case has not been examined yet. The arrest was now extended for a fifth month. We demand that they be released under house arrest or on bail,” Berlikozha told Vlast.
At the October 6 referendum last year, official results showed that more than 5.5 million people (71.12% of the total) voted in support of the construction of the nuclear power plant.
Government propaganda played a significant role in swinging the vote, along with a number of gross procedural violations during the vote witnessed by independent observers and a sweeping crackdown on the opposition, which preempted public protests against the plant.
Поддержите журналистику, которой доверяют.