Kazakh opposition leader Zhanbolat Mamai has been placed in pretrial detention on a charge of insulting law enforcement officers and distributing "false information."

Mamai's wife, Inga Imanbai, wrote of Facebook on March 14 that a court in Almaty ruled that her husband must stay in pretrial detention for at least two months.

Mamai, the leader of the unregistered Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, was sentenced on February 25 for organizing an unsanctioned public event to commemorate the victims of the January anti-government protests around Kazakhstan that claimed the lives of at least 230 people.

Mamai was expected to be released on March 12 after serving a 15-day jail term. However, he was not released and faced the additional charges.

Mamai is known for his harsh criticism of the country's authoritarian government.

He has been trying to register the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, but claims he is being prevented by the government, which he says only permits parties loyal to the political elite to be legally registered.

According to Imanbai, about a dozen of Mamai's supporters launched a hunger strike, demanding his immediate release.

Kazakhstan has been run by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his successor, Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

During their three-decade rule, several opposition figures have been killed, and many jailed or forced to flee the country.