AKIPRESS.COM - A Kazakh anti-government activist has died in a police detention center, Reuters  said with reference to authorities on Tuesday.

The Interior Ministry said Dulat Agadil, aged in his early 40s, died from what was believed to be acute cardiovascular failure in a cell in Nur-Sultan after police took him in late on Monday.

Agadil took part in a series of anti-government protests last year and was arrested at least twice. In its statement, the ministry said police detained him again after he failed to show up for questioning over charges of contempt of court and insulting a judge.

“There were four people other than him in the detention center cell where he (Agadil) was placed, who have testified that no acts of violence have taken place against him,” it said, adding that doctors found no injuries on the man’s body.

Public protests demanding greater political freedom and change of government in the oil-rich former Soviet republic have intensified since the resignation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev last March after almost three decades in power.