Oksana Makushina, deputy editor of Golos Respubliki" (Voice of Republic)

Kazakh Police Raid Opposition Paper

Source: RFE/RL

Kazakh police interrogated the deputy editor of an opposition newspaper and raided its offices in Almaty over her support for an arrested journalist.

The weekly paper "Golos Respubliki" (Voice of Republic) issued a press release saying security forces confiscated computers and equipment from its offices on February 2 and summoned its deputy editor, Oksana Makushina, to the National Security Committee twice -- on February 1-2.

It said Makushina was questioned regarding a press conference she held on January 30 calling for the immediate release of Igor Vinyavsky, the editor of the Almaty-based "Vzglyad" newspaper.

Vinyavsky has been detained for two months while investigations are being launched into allegations that he was involved in deadly clashes between police and striking oil workers in the country's southwest in December.