(Left to right) Qairat Sultanbek, Zhanmurat Ashtaev, and Lazzat Dosmambetova in Shymkent on July 13, 2022.
The Supreme Court of Kazakhstan on March 14 exonerated activist Zhanmurat Ashtaev, who was sentenced to more than three years in prison in July on a charge of participating in unrest in January 2022. The court also ruled that a mass amnesty announced for participants in the anti-government protests, which turned deadly, must be applied to another activist, Lazzat Dosmambetova, who was sentenced along with Ashtaev on the same charge. A third activist jailed in the case last year, Qairat Sultanbek, was released earlier due to the amnesty. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here .
