At a special hearing on January 5, Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General Berik Asylov, Minister of Internal Affairs Marat Akhmetzhanov, and other heads of law enforcement agencies provided information about the tragic events that took place in January last year to the Mazhilis (lower house of parliament). The hearing marked a one-year anniversary of the disturbances, DKNews.kz reports.
Describing what happened during those events, Asylov explained that organised criminal groups hijacked peaceful protests as an attempt at a coup d’état. He further stated that suspected organisers of the disturbances included high-ranking officials and members of organised crime groups. In this regard, former National Security Committee (NSC) Chair Karim Massimov and his former Deputy Anuar Sadykulov are on trial for treason, abuse of power, and actions aimed at violently seizing power, while former NSC Deputy Chair Daulet Yergozhin is on trial for abuse of power and actions aimed at violently seizing power.
The Prosecutor General confirmed that the investigation was nearing completion.
Marat Akhmetzhanov meanwhile informed that the police investigated 4,623 criminal cases related to the January unrest. Most of them are related to crimes of homicide, theft, illegal trafficking of weapons, hooliganism, and intentional damage to other people’s property. He said: “631 defendants have been brought to trial. Of these, 599 persons were convicted, including 455 to restriction of liberty, 132 to imprisonment, six to community service and six to a fine.”
Currently, 127 criminal cases against 315 persons are under investigation. It was also noted that approximately 1,700 people have been brought to criminal responsibility, though over 1,000 fall under the amnesty proposed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the participants of the January events. Currently, this amnesty has been applied to 1,095 persons. In particular, the courts reduced the terms of punishment for 1,001 convicted of serious crimes.
The Prosecutor General also focused on cases related to torture against the detainees. He informed that 329 criminal cases involving torture have been filed due to citizen complaints. Special prosecutors probed torture cases against 34 police personnel and National Security Committee members. Cases of torture of 27 individuals in Almaty region’s police stations and temporary detention facilities are now in court.
The participants of the special hearing also stated that businesses suffered damage in the amount of 37.5 billion tenge (almost $80 million USD) because of the unrest. Compensation in the amount of 16.7 billion tenge has been paid out to cover the damages.
