ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A Kazakh activist who said he was tortured and beaten while in custody earlier this year has been sent to pretrial detention on a charge of taking part in "mass disorders."
Qosai Makhanbaev was taken into pretrial detention late on June 16 after serving a 15-day sentence for picketing the Almaty city prosecutor's office without permission, according to Ainara Aidarkhanova, one of his lawyers.
Makhanbaev was one of dozens of people who claimed they were tortured by police and jail guards after they were arrested during and after anti-government protests in Almaty and other towns and cities in the Central Asian nation in January.
Weeks after his arrest in January, Makhanbaev was rushed to the hospital with severe bodily wounds and bruises and later released but ordered not to leave the city while the prosecutor's office investigated his claims of torture.
The Almaty city prosecutor’s office said at the time that it had launched 87 probes into alleged torture of inmates, but it appears to have made little headway.
Frustrated with what they believed was a deliberate attempt to quash the investigations, dozens of people who claimed they were beaten while in custody began rallying outside the city prosecutor's office in April.
Makhanbaev was detained in early June for taking part in one of the rallies and sentenced to 15 days in prison.
His lawyers said they only learned he was sent to pretrial detention the following day.
Protests in the remote town of Zhanaozen in Kazakhstan's southwest over a sudden fuel-price hike in early January quickly spread across the country and led to violent clashes.
Kazakh authorities say at least 230 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed during the violence. Human rights groups say the number of those killed is much higher.
Authorities said about 800 people have been arrested for involvement in the unrest, while dozens have been sentenced to various prison terms.
There have been numerous reports that many of those in custody were tortured by the police.
