Sergei Duvanov
Sergei Duvanov, born 1953, is a prominent oppositional Kazakh journalist who in 2002 wrote articles that linked the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan A Nazarbayev, to illicit Swiss bank accounts, creating a turmoil in the Central Asian country. The scandal was labeled Kazakhgate by some commentators.
Duvanov was arrested in October 2002 at his datcha outside Almaty, accused of raping a 14-year old girl, one day before a planned trip to the United States, where he was due to talk about Kazakhstan's human rights situation.
In January 2003 he was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. As of January 15, 2004 he is serving a released prison regime, which allows him to go to work and live at home. He is not allowed to go to public places, a notion undetermined by Kazakh law.
Duvanov and the opposition claim that the case was politically motivated.
