A rights activist imprisoned after knocking a police officer's hat off his head in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty has been freed from jail, her lawyer said Wednesday. Asya Tulesova was found guilty of insulting and using violence against the police but the judge ordered her released from jail but with a 1.5-year custodial sentence that prohibits her from leaving the city, lawyer Johar Utebekov told AFP. She spent over two months in jail after being arrested over a clash with police that took place during a rally in June. Utebekov said that Tulesova, 35, planned to appeal the sentence and gain a full acquittal. "We are appealing even though we know what there are no objective courts in this country and fully understand that we have no chance of winning," Utebekov told AFP. The trial was held via video conference and was widely watched online, while dozens of the activist's supporters picketed the courthouse during hearings. Tulesova, a longtime environmental activist, made headlines last year when she held up a banner at a marathon calling for free elections with the slogan: "You can't run from the truth". She and another activist served two-week sentences for that protest in the run-up to presidential elections after veteran strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev retired and anointed loyalist Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as his successor. Tokayev pledged that authorities would change their approach to rallies, but detentions of protesters remain commonplace despite a new law on public assemblies entering force this year. al-cr/mm/bmm