Kazakhstan court frees eco-activists, 27 June 2022

A pair of environmental activists hounded over their opposition to a gold mining company have been let off the hook by a judge in northern Kazakhstan after spending almost a year facing jail time. 

A court in the city of Stepnogorsk on June 27 found Nikolai Katchiyev and Aleksandra Nazarenko guilty of spreading false information and handed them non-custodial sentences.

Prosecutors reduced the charge at the last minute from the more serious accusation of inciting social hatred. The judge, presiding over an online courtroom, also noted that their conviction fell under an amnesty effective immediately. 

The decision leaves the two free, in theory, to return to their activism, although authorities in their home village are currently trying to head off that outcome.

Bestobe, a settlement of around 7,000 people some 200 kilometers from the capital Nur-Sultan, has a gold mining tradition stretching back almost a century.  

Katchiyev and Nazarenko have led local resistance to Kazakhaltyn, the privately-owned company that operates a gold mine close to the village. 

Prosecutors said the activists spread information that the company’s activities “negatively affect the ecology of the village, the health of the population and lead to the loss of livestock,” despite state experts giving the project a clean bill of health...