ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Another Kazakh activist has been released from prison after a court replaced the remainder of his five-year sentence with a parole-like penalty amid an outcry by human rights groups over political prisoners in the Central Asian nation.
Noyan Rakhymzhanov told RFE/RL that he was released from a penal colony in the town of Zarechny, near Almaty, on June 8.
The Qonaev City Court decided to replace Rakhymzhanov's prison term with a parole-like sentence on May 23, with the ruling taking force on June 8.
Rakhymzhanov and three other activists -- Abai Begimbetov, Qairat Qylyshev, and Askhat Zheksebaev -- were sentenced to five years in prison each in October last year on a charge of having links with opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) and its affiliate Koshe (Street) party.
The activists, who were recognized as political prisoners by human rights organizations in Kazakhstan, pleaded not guilty and claimed during their trial that they only participated in peaceful protests and exercised their constitutionally protected rights.
The case sparked protests by rights defenders and opposition activists who said the harsh sentences handed to the four activists go against President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's campaign "to build a new, democratic Kazakhstan."
Toqaev has been distancing himself from his authoritarian predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev, following deadly antigovernment protests in the oil-rich nation in early January, though his critics say concrete legislation strengthening human rights in the country is needed.
In recent weeks, Begimbetov, Qylyshev, and Zheksebaev were also released from prison after the remainders of their sentences were commuted to parole-like sentences.
DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government. Kazakh authorities labeled DVK extremist and banned the group in March 2018.
Human Rights Watch earlier this year criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. Several hundred people have been prosecuted for membership in the Koshe party.
Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the country.