style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">The Kazakhstani public is getting
used to political persecutions, which often take ugly forms. The majority of people, who
usually grumble about declining living standards, take the arrest of a political activist
as a part of a government campaign against the "criminal filth", to use the
expression of the Minister of Interior. That deeply-rooted public contempt for
bribe-takers and corrupted officials is skillfully exploited by the authorities in
crushing too vociferous critics of the regime.

style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">The landmark court case against two
former high-profile government officials, now prominent leaders of the opposition movement
Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, can be seen in this context. Mukhtar Ablyazov, who until
recently headed the Ministry of Industry and Trade, was seen as one of the most ardent
young reformists in the government. Last year, he was sacked from the Cabinet after
founding, together with other like-minded officials, the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan
(DCK), an event which caused a great turmoil in the otherwise somnolent political life of
the country.

style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">At first, authorities tried to
ignore the movement, and then, when it was no longer impossible to underestimate the
potential threat from the Democratic Choice in view of its rising popularity, they
attempted to reach some sort of compromise with the leaders of the movement. But that
failed too. The emergence of the DCK coincided with the leakage to the DCK-supported media
of a scandalous report about alleged secret  accounts
of the president in foreign banks. The patience of the government ran out.

style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">The lawsuit against Mukhtar Ablyazov
was filed in June. He was accused of  illegally
writing off US$3,64 million debts of the "Kostanaiasbest" company to the
national power company KEGOK. The defendant and his lawyers denied these charges, arguing
that relevant documents were signed by other officials. But none of these arguments were
taken into consideration by the Supreme Court, which sentenced Mukhtar Ablyazov to six
years in penal colony. "What I have understood is that economic reforms are
impossible to carry out without political reforms". That prompted us to create the
DCK in November 2001. And that provoked political reprisals against us. That is why I am
here today, in this courtroom, on fabricated charges", Ablyazov said in his final
speech.

style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">A top-level investigation committee
has charged another leader of the DCK, former governor of the Pavlodar region Galymzhan
Zhakyanov, with abuse of power and financial fraud in the process of privatization of some
big enterprises. The accused did not admit any of these charges. He and his lawyers said
the defendant had done everything in full compliance with the instructions of the national
privatization committee. Witnesses at the court session gave confused and contradicting
evidences. No conclusive proof of his guilt was provided. Nevertheless, the Pavlodar city
court passed a verdict sentencing him to seven years of imprisonment.

style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">Outside the courthouse, numerous
supporters greeted Zhakyanov, chanting his name as the handcuffed convict was escorted to
a police car after the verdict was announced. Under present law, he will be barred from
seeking public office for three years after serving his prison term. But on the whole, the
general public reacted calmly to the trial of opposition leaders. No one at the court
session dropped a word about the activities of the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, and in
many eyes the defendants looked like common criminals.

style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">A belated protest over the court
verdict came from some human rights campaigners. According to the director of the
Department of the International human rights organization Yevgeniy Zhovtis, these trials
are undoubtedly politically motivated and the convicted must be regarded as political
prisoners. All that is true. But in Kazakhstan, a political prisoner is someone who does
nothing more than just seeking trouble with the authorities.

style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">Marat Yermukanov, Kazakhstan