Leaders and activists of Republican People’s Party were detained when trying to meet with the "Minor Davos" Forum participants

Leaders and activists of Republican People’s Party were detained when trying to meet with the "Minor Davos" Forum participants

Amirzhan Qosanov - Chairman of Republican People Party's (RNPK) Executive Committee, told correspondents of RFE/RL that yesterday, April 8, local police had detained a group of the party's activists in front of Ankara Hotel in Almaty. "Minor Davos" Forum takes place in Ankara Hotel. The leaders and activists of RNPK intended to speak to some participants of the Forum and tried to give them some printed materials about situation around human rights, democratic reforms and problems faced by opposition parties and movements in nowadays Kazakhstan. But they were reportedly detained and brought to Almaty's Bostandyq District Police station. Today at 10:30 AM (Almaty time) the detained persons were supposed to face trial. But the trial was delayed and all the members and leaders of RNPK had to spend the whole day in the building of Bostandyq District Court. According to Mr. Qosanov, the trial was delayed on purpose, in order to prevent new appearance of members of RNPK in front of Ankara Hotel. RFE/RL's Kazakh News, April 10, 2002