Kazakh Communist Freed From Jail After Lenin Monument Protest

Andrei Tsukanov (file photo)

QARAGHANDY, Kazakhstan -- A Kazakh Communist Party activist has been released from jail in the central city of Qaraghandy after spending seven days in prison, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Andrei Tsukanov was sentenced for his participation in a protest last week when several communist activists protested the authorities' decision to remove a monument to Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin from the center of Qaraghandy.

Tsukanov painted a slogan on a fence in Qaraghandy's central square that read: "Fascists, leave Lenin alone!"

He told RFE/RL that he planned to file a complaint regarding the conditions in the jail where he was held.

The Lenin monument, which was erected in the Qaraghandy city center in 1975, was moved to a park on the city's outskirts on December 6.

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