Kazakh Opposition Activist Released In Poland

By RFE/RL's Kazakh Service

June 14, 2013
A Kazakh opposition activist detained in Poland has been released.

The district prosecutor in the Polish city of Lublin, Agnieszka Kempka, told RFE/RL that Muratbek Ketebaev was released on June 13 after being questioned.

Kempka added that Kazakhstan’s official request to extradite Ketebaev lacked adequate proof that the case was not politically motivated.

The prosecutor said Ketebaev was released without conditions.

Ketebaev was arrested on June 12 in Lublin, where he has been living in recent years.

Ketebaev, an associate of fugitive Kazakh banker and opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov, is known for his criticism of Kazakhstan’s government and President Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Earlier this month, Italian authorities deported Ablyazov's wife and daughter back to Kazakhstan for allegedly violating visa regulations.

Ablyazov fled Kazakhstan in 2009 and is currently in Europe.