05.08.2013, Astana

Source: Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty

ASTANA - Kazakhstan's Supreme Court has refused to review the case of jailed opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov. 

At a session on August 5, Supreme Court Judge Moryak Shegenov ruled that "there are no grounds" to do so.

Kozlov's wife, Aliya Turysbekova, told RFE/RL that Kazakh human rights defenders and lawmakers from Poland and Italy were present at the hearing.

The leader of the unregistered Algha (Forward) party, Kozlov was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison in October 2012 for his role in the mass strike by oil workers in western Kazakhstan.

The strike ended in violence in December 2011, when police shot dead 17 people in the towns of Zhanaozen and Shetpe.

Kozlov insists the case against him is politically motivated.