Kazakhstan regime moves to ban opposition parties
Thursday 22 November 2012
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EmailKazakhstan moved today to ban opposition media outlets and political parties including the Communist Party, which has been suspended for a year.
State prosecutors for the authoritarian regime told a court that the Alga Party and joint Alga-Communist Party organisation the People's Front were involved in the Zhanaozen oil dispute last year.
Workers who had been sacked for striking staged protests which ended in a violent police crackdown that left dozens dead.
Alga Party leader Vladimir Kozlov has already been jailed for his alleged role in the dispute.
The government, which employs shadowy British firm Tony Blair Associates as an adviser, also wants to shut down the Respublika and Vzglyad newspapers and TV station K+, saying they promote "extremism."
President Nursultan Nazarbayev was slated by international observers last year when he won re-election with 95 per cent of the vote amid accusations of ballot-rigging and voter intimidation.
That did not stop Mr Blair appearing in a promotional video in April advertising investment in the state.
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