Kazakhstan, 15.08.2014

After visiting Vladimir Kozlov, Aliya Turusbekova told Respublika journalists about false allegations against the leader of Alga! made by the prison's administration.

On the 5^th August, Vladimir Kozlov was denied a transfer to a colony with less strict regime. The decision was substantiated with four reprimands, three of which Kozlov supposedly received while back in Petropavlovsk. Kozlov himself was not aware of the reprimands.

Aliya says that Kozlov was punished, amongst other things, for not staying within the unit to which he was assigned - "he was initially placed in one 'division' and according to the documents, he was in another one", Turusbekova said.  However, under Kazakh law, prisoners cannot themselves decide on where they serve their sentence. The leader of Alga! has already filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office regarding this matter.

According to Aliya's account, in its session on the 6^th August, the commission called Kozlov a "harmful criminal" because of the 4 reprimands he had assigned to him during his two-and-a-half-year imprisonment. As mentioned by Kozlov's wife - a reprimand usually expires after half a year. "(...) the decision in his case was taken at the very top, and not by the people on the commission. It means that an order had been given: do not transfer! ", she adds.

Turusbekova also talked in the interview about the action organised for Kozlov's birthday - his friends and former associates organised a happening in front of the colony. A poster with birthday wishes was then handed to the oppositionist by the head of the establishment.

Source: Respublika