ASTANA, May 28 (RIA Novosti) – Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court has freed six people jailed following deadly clashes between oil workers and police in the city of Zhanaozen in 2011, after reducing their sentences to time served.
Kairat Edilov, Kairat Aminov, Murat Kosbarmakov, Nurlan Askarul, Baurzhan Nepes and Zharas Besmagambetov were released on Tuesday after their original sentences were reduced to two years suspended, according to the press service of Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court. They were originally sentenced to between three and six years in prison.
The sentences of others convicted of involvement in the organization of the violence, serving up to seven years, were left unchanged.
The trials of those involved in the violence were condemned by human rights organizations and US officials as a government tool to silence the country’s opposition.
At least 15 people are believed to have been killed in Zhanaozen and over 100 injured when Kazakh police broke up a demonstration by striking oil workers in December 2011.
