Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have detained an activist who openly protested against Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Kazakhstan to participate in a two-day summit in the capital, Astana.
Vera Zharylqasymova told RFE/RL that individuals in civilian clothes detained her husband, Rafiq Zharylqasymov, on October 13 but showed no identification or documents proving they were police.
"Rafiq told me by phone that plainclothes men are taking him to the Bostandyq district police department, after which the phone call stopped. There hasn't been any information from him since," Zharylqasymova said.
Zharylqasymova added that she believes her husband's detainment is most likely linked to his recent call to hold a rally in Almaty to protest Putin's presence in the Central Asian nation.
Zharylqasymov was detained one day after he posted a video on Facebook calling for officials to stop Putin's visits to Kazakhstan, calling him "a terrorist" over Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine launched in late February.
"I call on all of you to hold rallies on October 15 at 7 p.m. in the central squares of all of Kazakhstan’s towns and cities," Zharylqasymov said in the video statement, also calling on Kazakh police "to be on the people's side."
Online protests against Putin's visit to Kazakhstan have increased in the lead-up to his visit to Astana on October 12.
Putin has held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the regional summit to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.