Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Feb 25, 2020 (AFP)
A prominent Kazakh activist who was repeatedly detained for participating in demonstrations has died in jail, police announced Tuesday, sparking protests by furious supporters.
Dulat Agadil, 42, had been detained at his home and taken to a jail in Nur-Sultan on Monday night on charges of disrespecting and insulting court officials, a police statement said.
The statement attributed Agadil's death to heart failure and said his cellmates had testified that Agadil had not been harmed while in the prison.
The news sparked a protest outside the country's interior ministry by dozens of people, with 10 arrested according to the capital's police chief Ehzhan Sadenov.
Many activists have refused to believe the official version of events and protestors demanded the resignation of the interior minister and the disbandment of the country's powerful security council.
Video footage shared on social media showed men in plainclothes apprehending a half-dressed Agadil before leading him out of his flat towards a black vehicle.
The police statement said Agadil was in a "drunken state" at the time and that there were "no injuries on the man's body".
Agadil was most recently detained after opposition groups staged unsanctioned rallies on Saturday.
Police said 53 people were detained across the country as they tried to hold rallies without official permission, 10 of whom were held and charged with administrative offences.
Agadil gained fame in November last year after he escaped from detention, only to be re-arrested two days later. He spent more than 60 days of last year in administrative detention.
In December, activists reported that he swallowed bolts and nails in protest at being sentenced to 15 days' detention for participating in an unsanctioned rally.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has styled himself as a moderate reformer since taking over as head of state from 79-year-old patron Nursultan Nazarbayev last year.
The former foreign minister has pledged to amend legislation on public assembly, which local rights groups describe as excessively restrictive, and to tackle torture in Kazakhstan's prisons.
However, Nazarbayev, whose reign as president began before the former Soviet republic gained independence, is still widely believed to set policy in the oil-rich country of 18 million.
Roles that Nazarbayev has retained since retiring from the presidency include the lifelong chairmanship of the security council and constitutional status as Leader of the Nation.

Sumber : AFP