WATCH: (In Kazakh) Protesters Zhanna Baitelova, Arman Ozhaubaev, and Dmitry Tikhonov are detained for picketing the offices of the ruling Nur-Otan party on August 17. They wore T-shirts with the striking oil workers' demands printed on them and had chains around their necks.
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Three Kazakh activists have been detained for holding a protest demanding the release from jail of a labor lawyer who acted for striking oil workers, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
The three -- Zhanna Baitelova, Arman Ozhaubaev, and Dmitry Tikhonov from Kazakhstan's Socialist Movement -- were detained for picketing the offices of the ruling Nur-Otan party on August 17.
Natalya Sokolova, who represented striking oil workers in western Kazakhstan, was jailed for six years last week for "igniting social hatred."
The activists wore T-shirts with the striking oil workers' demands printed on them and had chains around their necks.
Police took them to Almaty's Almaly district police station and charged them with "holding an unsanctioned public gathering."
Baitelova told RFE/RL that there was a chance that she and her colleagues would appear in court later on August 17.
Natalya Sokolova, seen here in a late July court appearance and who represented striking oil workers in western Kazakhstan, was jailed for six years for "igniting social hatred."
Thousands of oil workers in Kazakhstan's western Manghystau region have been on strike since May to demand a pay raise, the lifting on restrictions on the activities of independent trade unions in the region, Sokolova's release, and equal rights with foreign workers.
Read more in Kazakh here
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Three Kazakh activists have been detained for holding a protest demanding the release from jail of a labor lawyer who acted for striking oil workers, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
The three -- Zhanna Baitelova, Arman Ozhaubaev, and Dmitry Tikhonov from Kazakhstan's Socialist Movement -- were detained for picketing the offices of the ruling Nur-Otan party on August 17.
Natalya Sokolova, who represented striking oil workers in western Kazakhstan, was jailed for six years last week for "igniting social hatred."
The activists wore T-shirts with the striking oil workers' demands printed on them and had chains around their necks.
Police took them to Almaty's Almaly district police station and charged them with "holding an unsanctioned public gathering."
Baitelova told RFE/RL that there was a chance that she and her colleagues would appear in court later on August 17.
Thousands of oil workers in Kazakhstan's western Manghystau region have been on strike since May to demand a pay raise, the lifting on restrictions on the activities of independent trade unions in the region, Sokolova's release, and equal rights with foreign workers.
Read more in Kazakh here