We issued the following statement today after a regional court in Taraz upheld a lower court verdict and sentenced Ramazan Yesergepov, editor of the independent weekly Alma-Ata Info, to three years in jail for allegedly publishing state secrets…
“We are outraged by the imprisonment of Ramazan Yesergepov and the lack of due process in his case,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. “Kazakhstan must prove its commitment to press freedom and its readiness to assume the leadership of Europe’s leading human rights monitor, the OSCE, by immediately releasing Yesergepov.”