RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Sanavar Zakirova and three other women approached worshipers on November 22 outside the Aziret Sultan Mosque, explaining that they had to raise money to pay a fine to the Nur-Otan party that is led by former President Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Police detained the women and fined them the equivalent of $32 each for causing a public nuisance.

Zakirova and two other activists were found guilty by a court in Almaty on November 18 of distributing false information about the party over the Internet. They were ordered to pay the equivalent of $15,000 to the party. The defendants and their supporters insist the case was politically motivated.

Zakirova is well known for her political and civil-rights activities.

The authorities in Almaty denied her permission to hold a congress in March for a new political party, Our Right.

She was also one of the initiators and active participants of rallies in Almaty and Nur-Sultan, the capital, by residents of Kazakhstan's different regions, demanding revision of what they called "wrong court decisions" in various cases.