Kazakhstan: jailed human rights defender amnestied
The prominent Kazakh human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis has been granted an amnesty after serving more than half of a four-year jail sentence for manslaughter, Radio Liberty reported.
Zhovtis, former chief of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights, told Radio Liberty by phone on February 1 that he will be released in 15 days.
Zhovtis was sentenced in 2009 to four years in jail for a road accident that killed a pedestrian.
The trial was seen by human rights activists as politically motivated and drew international criticism.
He was repeatedly denied parole on allegations of "violating internal order" in a minimum-security labor camp in the city of Oskemen.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Zhovtis for efforts to promote human rights issues during her visit to Kazakhstan in 2010.
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