Kazakhstan to start trying members of banned Islamic organization

Karaganda, July 31, Interfax - The trial of 30 members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which is considered extremist and is banned in Kazakhstan, will start in Karaganda, a regional center in central Kazakhstan, on Wednesday.

The trial will be held in camera at a pretrial detention facility, Judge Marat Ibrayev, the judge to preside in the hearings, told Interfax on Tuesday.

"I have ruled to hold the hearings behind closed doors, as the criminal case contains classified materials," he said.

The regional department of the Kazakh National Security Committee said in a statement that the defendants were detained on suspicion of affiliation with Hizb ut-Tahrir in December 2006. They have been charged with setting up an organized criminal group on Kazakh territory, fuelling ethnic and religious discord, and running a banned extremist organization.