COPENHAGEN, 1 February 2012 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly human rights committee chair Matteo Mecacci (Italy) today welcomed the news that Kazakhstani authorities are set to release imprisoned human rights defender Yvgeny Zhovtis under a general amnesty later this month.

"I hope Mr. Zhovtis' release from prison will be the beginning of a new chapter in developing fundamental freedoms and human rights in Kazakhstan," said Mecacci, chair of the OSCE PA Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions. "I look forward to Mr. Zhovtis continuing the important human rights work he was doing before his arrest."

Mecacci visited Zhovtis in May 2010 at the prison colony in Ust-Kamenogorsk. Zhovtis has served more than two years of a four-year sentence for vehicular manslaughter in connection with a July 2009 fatal traffic accident. OSCE Parliamentary Assembly leaders have raised concerns about the unfair treatment Zhovtis received in prison following a trial that was widely seen as marred with violations of due process.

"Unfortunately, as Zhovtis comes out of prison too many other people remain in prison in Kazakhstan for simply trying to exercise their freedom of assembly or expression. I call on Kazakhstan to respect its OSCE commitments to these and other freedoms and release political prisoners like Igor Vinyavsky and Vladimir Kozlov," Mecacci said.

Vinyavsky, chief editor of the newspaper Vzglyad, remains in jail after being indicted in January on charges he called for the forceful overthrow of the government. Vladimir Kozlov, head of the unregistered opposition party Alga!, and politician Serik Sapargali were sent to jail on similar charges.

Kozlov had briefed OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observers earlier this month ahead of the parliamentary elections.

Several members of the Azat party, which ran in January's parliamentary elections, are also under administrative arrest following post-election protests in Almaty.