Watchdog

Kazakh authorities say individuals recently arrested for taking part or calling for unsanctioned mass protests are facing charges of inciting ethnic discord and of attempting to seize power by force.

The Prosecutor-General's Office made the announcement on May 27, after hundreds of activists were detained ahead of nationwide protests against new legislation on the privatization of agricultural land planned for May 21.

Many activists have been released, but a number of them were fined or sent to prison for 10-15 days. Others were sent to pretrial detention as criminal charges against them are pending.

On May 5, President Nursultan Nazarbaev imposed a moratorium on the implementation of the controversial law until 2017, but critics of the legislation pledged to continue the protest movement afterward.

Based on reporting by nur.kz and Kazinform

GROZNY, Russia -- A court in Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya has sentenced two Ukrainian citizens to lengthy prison terms after they were found guilty of fighting alongside Chechen separatists in the 1990s.

Chechnya's Supreme Court on May 26 sentenced Mykola Karpyuk to 22 years and Stanislav Klykh to 20 years in prison.

On May 19, a jury found both men guilty of participating in the activities of a militant group, including murder and attempted murder.

Investigators said they were members of the group known as the Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian National Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO) and arrived in Chechnya in 1994 to fight alongside Chechen separatists against Russia's federal forces, leading to the killing of dozens of Russian soldiers.

UNA-UNSO has been officially branded as extremist and banned in Russia.

The Moscow-based Memorial human rights center has recognized Karpyuk and Klykh as political prisoners.