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Kazakh Opposition Journalist Jailed


Ermurat Bapi
Ermurat Bapi
An Almaty administrative court has sentenced opposition journalist Ermurat Bapi to five days in jail, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Bapi is the director of the Dat-Iks-Media Company, which owns the weekly opposition newspaper "Taszharghan."

He was found guilty of not fulfilling a court decision to pay a large fine.

Last month, the court found "Taszharghan" guilty of libeling Kazakh parliamentary deputy Romin Madinov and ordered the newspaper to pay $200,000 to the deputy as compensation.

Bapi told RFE/RL that his company is not able to pay that amount to Madinov.

His lawyer, Altai Abdenov, said he and his client plan to challenge the court's verdict on Bapi's five-day imprisonment.

Bapi says all the accusations and charges are politically motivated.
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