Woman wins rare acquittal

ALMATY: A Kazakh woman standing trial over political posts she wrote on a messenger application was found not guilty yesterday, her lawyer said, months after her husband was sentenced to jail in a similar case. A court in Aktau, a city in western Kazakhstan, acquitted Aigul Akberdi of calling for “forcible overthrow of the constitutional order” in posts on the Telegram messenger app, her lawyer Zhanara Sundetkaliyeva said. The judge found there was “no evidence” to convict the mother of four, and said the probe contained violations, the lawyer added. The verdict was greeted by observers as a rare victory for long-suffering civil society in the authoritarian Centraql Asian country. Akberdi was seen weeping with joy in scenes broadcast live on Facebook. “Forward, Kazakhstan!” she cried. — AFP