Kazakhstan accuses opposition of plotting a revolution Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have previously called for the release of Mr Kozlov and other opposition activists, and described them as prisoners of conscience. Kazakhstan has countered that the opposition activists are a threat to national security and to the stability of the country. The riot on Dec 16 in the scruffy oil town of Zhanaozen in the west of the country posed the biggest threat to stability in Kazakhstan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Since the riot, the security forces have cracked down on political activists and journalists linked to the opposition. This month a court in Aktau, the largest town near Zhanaozen, jailed 13 people for instigating the riot. Another court also jailed five policemen in May for the death of the protesters. The security services link Mr Kozlov to fugitive billionaire Mukhtar Ablyazov who has openly funded Kazakh opposition. Ablyazov fled a British court earlier this year where he had been standing trial for perjury. In March, the security services accused Ablyazov of plotting to plant bombs in Almaty in order to incite social disorder and revolution.