In 2009, he led a campaign in Europe to deny Kazakhstan the presidency of the OSCE, arguing that the Kazakh government's human rights abuses rendered it unworthy to hold that post.

[2][6][7] Kozlov was part of an independent public monitoring group that went to Zhanaozen in January 2012 to investigate allegations of torture and other acts of abuse of strikers in police custody.

[2] On August 16, he went on trial at the Mangistau Regional Court in Aktau on charges of inciting social hatred, calling to the overthrow of the constitutional order of the state, and creating and managing an organized criminal group.

"[11] The US State Department's 2012 Human Rights Report on Kazakhstan cited Kozlov's arrest and detention, and the confiscation of his personal property, at length as representative of that country's poor human-rights record.

HRW further observed that the official criminal investigation into Kozlov and his co-defendants had been "shrouded in secrecy" and that the authorities had released no "evidence of specific speech or actions by the accused that indicated the basis for the charges levied against them."

Mihra Rittman of HRW protested that Kozlov's imprisonment "further limits a narrow political landscape in Kazakhstan and sends a chilling effect to others who might want to criticize the government and its policies.

"[15] Ian Kelly, US Ambassador to the OSCE, issued a statement on October 11, 2012, stating that America was "disappointed to hear of the conviction of Vladimir Kozlov" and "concerned about the apparent use of the judicial system to silence a leading opposition voice in Kazakhstan."

Most importantly, the prosecution failed to produce concrete evidentiary links between Mr. Kozlov’s support for the striking oil workers and the subsequent violence that occurred in Zhanaozen.

The NHC, which had sent an observer to Kozlov's trial, further complained that prosecutors had "relied on circumstantial evidence and resorted to tactics such as calling an expert witness who testified that the opposition politician was a 'bohemian personality.

'"[13] The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) sent a letter to Nazarbayev in December 2012 calling on him to release Kozlov, stop cracking down on independent media, and investigate allegations of torture.

HRF president Thor Halvorssen suggested that if Nazarbayev wanted to alter this status, "it’s time for him to release Mr. Kozlov and for his government to start respecting criticism from the media.

"[17] In February 2013, Tomasz Makowski and Malgorzata Marcinkiewicz, members of the Polish Parliament, were denied permission to visit Kozlov at a labor camp in the northern city of Petropavlovsk.

[6] In April 2013, the European Parliament officially condemned Kazakhstan for its violating of political, media, and religious freedoms, criticized a court ban on Alga!, and called for Kozlov's release.

"[6] When British Prime Minister David Cameron traveled to Kazakhstan in June 2013 to discuss economic issues, there was widespread desire for him to raise Kozlov's case.

[23] Kozlov's wife, Aliya Turusbekova, said it was naïve to think Cameron would pressure Nazarbayev over such matters, given the U.K.'s view of Kazakhstan as a potential new market or source of "cheap raw materials.

"[24] But she welcomed Cameron's visit in any case, saying that such international connections encouraged the Kazakh leadership "to restrain itself within certain limits so as not to look totally authoritarian and misanthropic.

"Our authorities resemble an ostrich which has buried its head in the sand and is afraid of admitting that it is wrong," said human rights defender Galym Ageleulov about the postponement of the trial.

Turusbekova said that he had severe headaches, high blood pressure, and intense pain in his right hip joint, but an application he had made for medical care had been ignored.

The Open Dialog Foundation maintained that an anonymous source had informed the Respublika website "that Kazakh secret services [were] preparing a provocation against Aliya Turusbekova in order to exert pressure on her husband...to compel the politician to confess his guilt, give incriminating testimony against Mukhtar Ablyazov and publicly repent.