Kyiv conference demands justice for Kazakh oil workers

The “justice for Kazakhstan oil workers” campaign was the central focus of a conference of independent trades union activists, socialists and human rights campaigners from across the former Soviet Union at the weekend.

Two hundred activists decided at the meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, to unite around the campaign. They called for the release of at least ten people jailed after the

Women demonstrating in Zhanaozen during the strike, July 2011

Kazakh oilfield strike of 2011, and for an inquiry into a police massacre at Zhanaozen, an oil city in western Kazakhstan, in which at least 16 were killed and 60 wounded.

Demonstrations are planned on 16 December, the second anniversary of the Zhanaozen killings, in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and across western Europe. The London event, outside the Foreign Office, will highlight UK government and business links with Kazakhstan. (Details at the end).

The police shootings of unarmed demonstrators at Zhanaozen ended a seven-month strike by several thousand workers demanding better pay and conditions