30/11/2016 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 30 November, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service criticised the sentencing, by a court in Kazakhstan, of human rights defenders Max Bokayev and Talgat Ayan to five years in prison, and called for their release. Bokayev and Ayan were sentenced on 28 November for organising and participating in peaceful protests in April 2016. "The penalisation of such acts contravenes Kazakhstan's commitments under international law on the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly", the spokesperson said in a press release, calling on Kazakhstan "to cease the criminalisation of dissenting opinions" and "to ensure that freedom of speech and of assembly are protected". (CG)