Rights group urges Kazakhstan to reopen activist case

ALMATY (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch has urged Kazakhstan to launch a new investigation into the case of a jailed activist, saying the Central Asian state was losing credibility as the future chair of a European human rights body.

A Kazakh court this week upheld an earlier verdict sentencing human rights campaigner and government critic Yevgeny Zhovtis to four years in prison for manslaughter after his car hit a pedestrian who later died.

"The decision of a Kazakh court today to uphold the harsh verdict imposed on Kazakhstan's leading human rights defender is a terrible miscarriage of justice," the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement issued late on Tuesday.

Kazakhstan's rights record has come under close scrutiny this year as the ex-Soviet nation prepares to take over the rotating chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Rights groups said Zhovtis was denied the right to present a proper defence at the trial as he was not even allowed to attend the appeal trial.

The United States and the European Parliament have expressed concern over the case, while the Kazakh government has denied any political motivation in the case and said the trial took place in accordance with the law.

"Human rights developments in Kazakhstan overall since reforms in early 2009 have been disappointing and undermine the country's credibility as it prepares to serve as the chair of the OSCE in 2010," HRW said.

Only a new, impartial and fair investigation could restore justice in Zhovtis' case, the group said.

"The international community should continue to call for a new investigation and should measure Kazakhstan by the standards it set for itself when it sought the chairmanship of the OSCE," HRW quoted its regional official Rachel Denber as saying.

(Writing by Olzhas Auyezov)