Activist Temirlan Yensebek was not allowed to attend his own trial. While this could be a headline from Yensebek’s satirical site Qaznews24, this is unfortunately true. On April 11 in Almaty, Judge Beinegul Kaisina sentenced the journalist to five years of “restricted freedom” (a form of non-custodial sentence) along with a ban on journalism and public engagement, among other penalties. In the small courtroom where the three-day trial took place, there was no room for the defendant. Col...| vlast.kz
A fire broke out in the outskirts of Astana on June 19. Smoke engulfed the entire city. To extinguish the fire, helicopters of the ministry of emergency situations siphoned water from the nearby Taldykol system of lakes – the same lakes that have been threatened by real estate construction for the past three years. For many years, this lake ecosystem has contributed to the regulation of temperature and humidity levels in the city, and served as a habitat for many birds, including endangered...| vlast.kz