A court in Kazakhstan has sent fourteen people to prison for taking part in a march to protest about wage arrears.

A spokesman for the Kazakh confederation of free trade unions said those convicted were part of a group of two-hundred people trying to march from the southern town of Kentau to the new capital Astana.

They were given sentences of betweeen seven and fifteen days, and afurther fifteen people were fined.

Workers at Kentau's lead mine have been involved in a protracted and bitter dispute over mounting wage arrears and worsening living conditions.