Missing journalist in Kazakhstan found alive
Journalist Makhambet Abzhan, who went missing in early January, was found alive in Kazakhstan. According to the journalist of Radio Azattyq, he has been hiding in another city all this time, adding that he was fine, he is free.
According to Abzhan, the police are investigating a criminal case in which he is a "witness with the right to defense", ie he is one footstep away from the status of a suspect. The journalist noted that he had signed a non-disclosure document and could not reveal more details on the case.
As it was reported, his wife said he went missing a week ago amid the unprecedented political turmoil in the Central Asian country, as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Gulzira Duisembaeva told RFE/RL on January 18 that she had received no information about her husband's whereabouts since he left home in Almaty on January 6, amid the deadly anti-government protests in Kazakhstan's largest city and elsewhere.
Earlier that day, police officers visited the couple's home and tried to forcibly take Abzhan with them before he managed to force them out of the apartment, according to Duisembaeva.
She said that the police had officially informed the family's lawyer they had not detained the journalist.
Human rights activists say scores of people have gone missing during the wave of protests that rocked the oil-rich former Soviet republic early this month.
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