Support swells for jailed Kazakh journalist

Independent media are under threat in Kazakhstan

Human rights activists in the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan have launched a campaign in defence of an opposition journalist charged with raping a 14-year-old girl.

They allege the charges are part of government attempts to deal with journalists who draw attention to human rights abuses.

Sergey Duvanov, who was detained on 28 October, is currently being force-fed in jail after going on hunger strike.

He claims the charges against him are fabricated.

The Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency says several activists have gone on hunger strike in solidarity and demonstrations have been held in Almaty, the country's biggest city.

One, outside the presidential residence, was broken up by police.

Alleged persecution

Leading Kazakh journalists have appealed to President Nursultan Nazarbayev for an "objective" investigation of the case.

In the appeal, they accuse the authorities of "unprecedented persecution of the private media, including closures of newspapers, shots being fired at television installations, arson attacks on editorial offices and numerous unjustified inspections".

This year alone, a large number of independent newspapers and television stations have been closed, one newspaper office was burned down and shots were aimed at a TV tower.

Mr Duvanov writes for the weekly bulletin of the International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law. He was detained just before he was due to leave for the USA to talk to human rights groups about the situation in Kazakhstan.

International protest

Representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have expressed concern about the Duvanov case, suggesting it could be "politically motivated".

Back in August, Mr Duvanov was beaten up just before he was to go to Warsaw for an OSCE human rights conference, an OSCE statement said.

An OSCE human rights official has called on the Kazakh authorities "to promptly conduct full, just and transparent investigation into the charges against Mr Duvanov and to involve independent foreign experts to handle possible DNA evidence".

"Absolutely innocent"

Sergey Duvanov has protested his innocence. "I am absolutely innocent and I have never seduced or raped anyone. I state that everything that took place on the evening of 27 October is a real provocation that is aimed at, first, discrediting me, and second, at putting me in prison," he said in a letter to his supporters.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.