Activist Vlada Yermolcheva of the rights group Oyan, Qazaqstan (Wake Up, Kazakhstan) launched a hunger strike on May 11 after a court in Almaty rejected her appeal against a 15-day jail term she was handed over the weekend, Yermolcheva's lawyer Talghat Miermanov told RFE/RL. Yermolcheva and her colleague Darkhan Sharipov were sentenced to 15 days in jail each on a charge of violating regulations for holding public events. The charge stemmed from the activists' public protests against early presidential and parliamentary elections held in November 2022 and March this year respectively. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.
Kazakh Activist Starts Hunger Strike To Protest Jailing
Vlada Ermolcheva demonstrates in Almaty in March.