by Radio Free Europe

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — An environmental activist known for his campaign to save a forest near Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, has been shot dead.

Sania Qandieva, a relative of the victim, told Radio Free Europe on March 11 that the body was found on March 10 and he had probably been killed the night before Qandieva added that she believed that Nurlan Oteuliev’s killing must have been connected with his environmental activism. Oteluliev was a member of the Tabighat (Nature) Social Fund.

He was actively involved in a campaign protesting deforestation of the area in the Qarasai district near Almaty. The Qarasai district’s Interior Affairs Department has declined to comment on Oteuliev’s death.