From: EurasiaDigest (digest@eurasianet.org)
Date: Wed Jan 19 2005 - 11:58:15 EST
DISSOLVED KAZAKH OPPOSITION PARTY SAYS AUTHORITIES EXERTING 'PRESSURE'
Asylbek Kozhakhmetov, chairman of the opposition party Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK), told a news conference in Almaty on 18 January that the authorities are pressuring the party throughout the country, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. Kozhakhmetov said that police are visiting party members and querying them on their political views. In one province, police asked members "why they joined DVK, who persuaded them to do so, and why they oppose the president," Kozhakhmetov said. The party faces dissolution after a 6 January court ruling; it also lost an appeal on 17 January (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 and 18 January 2005). Noting that DVK has until 2 February to file another appeal, Kozhakhmetov said the embattled opposition party will do so. But Yevgenii Zhovtis, who is representing DVK in court, charged that the authorities are interfering in the judicial process and that future appeals are unlikely to overturn the initial ruling. DK
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