#TrialWatch is alarmed by what appears to be an increasing pattern of harassment against one of our monitors in Kazakhstan, toregozhina_bakhytzhan. Earlier this week, she was detained without justification while on a morning walk—authorities held her for several hours and questioned her about a rally allegedly planned to protest the imprisonment of Marat Zhylanbaev, yet another victim of Kazakhstan’s crackdown on dissent. But the authorities then asserted an entirely different basis for her detention. According to a leading Kazakh human rights watchdog, her detention had no legal basis under Kazakhstan’s own laws. This follows a recent court ruling that fined Bakhytzhan for a Facebook post about Marat’s hunger strike. Bakhytzhan has spent decades defending freedom of expression and assembly. Targeting her only underscores Kazakhstan’s deepening assault on civil society. #WageJustice #Kazakhstan #TrialWatch #CFJ #TrialMonitoring #FreedomofExpression