Watchdog

The leader of the Kazakh opposition party Algha (Forward), Vladimir Kozlov, said his early release on parole was made possible by the involvement of the European Union.

Addressing reporters in Almaty on August 22, three days after his release from jail, Kozlov said the EU and the European Parliament had helped him "remain a human being" while in jail.

Kozlov said despite some parole restrictions he would "continue doing everything to be useful for people."

Kozlov was arrested in January 2012 for his role in a mass strike by oil workers in the western city of Zhanaozen that ended in violence in December 2011.

During the unrest, police shot dead at least 16 people. More than 100 people were also injured.

In October 2012, Kozlov was found guilty of inciting social discord and sentenced to 7 1/2 years in jail.

EU officials and rights organizations had called on the Kazakh government to release Kozlov.

More than 200 people have taken part in a protest in central Istanbul calling for justice over the murder of a transgender woman and LGBT activist.

The demonstrators on August 21 held signs and chanted slogans for Hande Kader, a 22-year-old sex worker whose burned body was discovered in a forest last weekend.

No arrests have been made in the case.

The death of Kader is the second murder to rock the LGBT community in Istanbul in recent weeks after the headless, mutilated body of a gay Syrian man, Muhammad Wisam Sankari, was identified in late July.

Homosexuality is legal in Turkey, but rights groups say hate crimes against the LGBT community are common.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and the BBC