Voice of Democracy
Published by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation · Washington, D.C. Oct. 17, 2002

Kazakhgate stonewalling.

dictator Yasser Arafat. For the first time in 10 years, Kazakhstan has "officially supported" the Palestinian cause and denounced what a Kazakh diplomat called "Israel's aggression," reports Kazakh commercial television and monitored by the BBC. Askar Musinov, the Kazakh ambassador to the UAE, said any cooperation with the Jewish state is purely economic, not political. Kazakhstan and Israel have formal diplomatic relations. http://news.bbc.co.uk/

KAZAKHGATE STONEWALLING -- The Nazarbayev regime is stonewalling parliamentary demands for details behind the "Kazakhgate" scandal in which the President and some of his closest advisors and family members are suspected of channeling millions of dollars in kickback from Western oil companies, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A Nazarbayev loyalist, Mazhilis speaker Zharmakhan Tuyaqbaev, quashed the request for an investigation. http://www.rferl.org/bd/ka/

MORE TAKE THAN GIVE -- The Pentagon is giving Kazakhstan "several dozen million dollars" worth of multipurpose helicopters and Humvees, according to a senior Defense Ministry official, but the Nazarbayev regime still refused to improve cooperation with the U.S. Air Force in the war against terrorism. The USAF request to upgrade the military airfield at Lugovoi has been rejected, Interfax reported. http://www.interfax-news.com/.

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW? -- Editors of "Economy, Finance, Markets," a privately owned newspaper, have complained to the prosecutor-general that customs officials, policy and national security operatives have been illegally attempting to prevent production and distribution of the newspaper, Interfax reported. The Kazakh government has been repeated condemned by international authorities for its harsh anti-press policies. http://www.interfax-news.com/.

POLITICAL PRISONERS -- Three dozen prominent political opposition figures, journalists and intellectuals, led by former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, have appealed to Amnesty International to declare two imprisoned former Kazakh officials to be political prisoners. Former Economy, Industry and Trade Minister Mukhtar Abliyazov and former Pavlodar Oblast Gov. Ghalymzhan Zahaqiyanov were accused of corruption and arrested after leaving the Nazarbayev government to help set up the opposition movement Democratic Choice for Kazakhstan. They were sentenced to six and sever year prison terms, respectively, on charges widely considered unfounded, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. http://www.rferl.org/bd/ka/

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