Prison gates. Photo by Kazakhstan Human Rights Bureau.
Kazakhstan's leading human rights defender Evgeny Zhovtis was released from prison today, having served about more than half of his four-year sentence for involuntary vehicular manslaughter. His case was widely believed by local and international human rights advocates to have been manipulated to keep him from vocal human rights activity during Kazakhstan's chair of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010.
Zhovtis' colleagues from the Human Rights Bureau were there to meet him.
He had a statement to make (which I've translated):
I would like to thank the mother of the victim, Rayhan, for her words of forgiveness which mean a lot to me.
Great and invaluable support in this difficult period, besides my family and close friends was given by the staff of our Human Rights Bureau especially the founders of the Bureau, Zhemis Turmagambetova, the leaders and members of the unregistered party Alga, the Azat OSDP, the Communist Party, Kazakhstani and international human rights organizations, journalists from the newspapers Golos Respubliki, Vzglyad, DAT, Pravda Kazakhstan, and especially the newspaper Vremya and many other civic activists and ordinary people both in Kazakhstan and abroad.
In turn, I would like to say a word of support for those in imprisonment: Natalya Sokolova, Aron Atabek, Vladimir Kozlov, who has been arrested, as well as Igor Vinyavsky, Serik Sapargali, Ayjangul Amirova, Roza Tuletaeva and other political activists, human rights defenders and journalists who are the "culprits" in various criminal cases. I wish them courage, stamina and hope for justice, even in these futile situations.
In the last two and a half years, I did not change my views in any way, or my attitude to the processes occurring in our country and the world, or my conceptions of freedom and justice, and I intend to defend them further.
At the same time, a prison colony is not a sanatorium, and I need to rest a little and restore my health. Before returning to active work, I need to take a look around, get up to speed, and understand better what is happening. For that, some time will be needed.
Evgeny Zhovtis
February 17, 2012
Ust-Kamenogorsk
