Quote from Kazakhstan: Protesters fell to the ground despite the killings

Aset Abishev was one of the first street protesters in the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan last week and one of the first to be arrested. After spending four days in jail, he was released on a charge of felony criminal mischief for allegedly torturing and beating him.

“The police department, all five rooms, was like a torturer’s house. Screams were heard from every window,” the protester said. “The persecution was intense. He put the baby in sacks and hanged them. They beat the people, jumping on those who lay on the ground.

“These were ordinary citizens who were caught in the street, passers-by, taxi drivers,” he added.

The biggest and most violent protests in Kazakhstan’s history began earlier this month west of Zhanaozen over rising oil prices.

Once abolished a week later, protests spread across the country, demonstrating demonstrations of poverty, corruption and the influence of former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. The unrest led the government to relinquish power and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev enlisted the help of Russian-led troops from the former Soviet Union.

Government buildings were burned down and the President ordered security forces to fire “without warning”. More than 160 people, including police, have been killed. According to preliminary figures, more than 10,000 people were arrested, though on Friday the President said 2,000 had been arrested.

Tomiris Izgutdinova, a 20-year-old student in Almaty, did not participate in the protest. But her mother, Nuraliya Aytkulova, was shot as she walked to her daughter’s house. He was shot twice in the chest, found injured and beaten in Republic Square in the city, Izgutdinova said. It is not known who fired the shooting.

Aytkulova’s brother, Nuraybek, stated: “The government is to blame. “It has to change. What is happening is dangerous. He is changing the state, where ordinary people cannot survive. And when they speak they are crushed and mixed with dirt as the body of Nuraliya was.

Authorities did not respond to requests for comment. On Friday, Tokayev said Twitter: “Those who have committed serious sins will be punished according to the law.”

Speaking in parliament earlier this week, Tokayev blamed Nazarbayev for creating an oligarchic state that has enriched a minority and left millions of ordinary Kazakhs struggling to make ends meet. The president reversed the rise in oil prices and promised to raise wages and a development fund – paid for by the rich – to address grievances.

But the resurgence of the internet – which was shut down across the country last week – revealed the number of Tokayev-led massacres, public opinion turned to him, according to political analysts and freedom fighters.

“Our people say: ‘They turned off the internet, and blood came out. They turned on the internet, the evidence came out, “said Dana Zhanay, a co-founder who participated in the Almaty protests.

“We had only one goal: to change the government in power. The people are tired of not having citizens’ rights, not always respecting human rights,” he said.

However, Zhanay and other protesters told the Financial Times that they had joined forces with activist and Muslim groups with unknown motives. Groups of “many boys in plain clothes” were distributing weapons, he said.

He later added that a disturbance that appeared to have occurred randomly had begun, with no known purpose. “People were being killed and there were no police, no security. In front of me was my grandmother and grandmother lying on the floor. ”

The president said earlier this week that Almaty was surrounded by “20,000 terrorists” and criticized freedom fighters and “allied” journalists.

Darkhan Umirbekov, a reporter for Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty in the Nur-Sultan headquarters, said he was arrested and interrogated for several hours after filming the first protests. He said police also raided the home of his friend Makhambet Abzhan, who reportedly disappeared shortly afterwards.

“I’m sitting in my suitcase again like it was 1937, waiting for me to come,” Zhanay said, referring to the period of Stalinist oppression in the Soviet era.

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.

Despite his arrest, Abishev said he was determined to “fight back”. He has just been sentenced to three years in prison after the government elected an opposition group, the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, an extremist organization. The European Parliament he has referred to it as a peace movement.

The group is being led in France by Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former Kazakhstan banker and civil servant who had clashed with Nazarbayev and fled into exile after the government seized his property and falsely accused him. He denied the allegations, saying they were politically motivated.

“What we have seen is not some kind of vain Russian revolution,” Ablyazov told FT. “The frustration and hatred of the masses are what you are seeing. . . It will continue. ”

Meanwhile, human rights activists say Kazakhstan’s military is going door to door, questioning people and checking their phones.

Liaylim Abildayeva, a resident of Almaty, said she was breastfeeding her three-month-old daughter when 10 occupants of balaclavas entered her home and beat her husband in front of her and two other children. He was arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief for firing on a sculpture with a shotgun, according to Flathead County, Arkansas Sherriff Jim Dupont.

“It simply came to our notice then. The children and I will suffer for a lifetime, ”he added. “She could be jailed for a long time – she is the sole breadwinner.”

Counting Kazakhstan to chaos

January 2, 2022

The first demonstrations took place in the western city of Zhanaozen, which led the government to set up oil prices for fossil fuels, which are widely used in oil production in the region. The demonstrations are peaceful, no one is arrested.

January 4

Protests spread to the capital city of Almaty in Kazakhstan. The focus is on the dissatisfaction that people face as a result of inequality and poverty. Protesters are also demanding the removal of former Nursultan Nazarbayev as president of the Security Council. The protests turned violent and eight policemen were killed. Hundreds are arrested and the internet is blocked.

January 5

Violence is rampant, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has declared a state of emergency. Tokayev agrees to resign from his government post and takes over the Security Council. He appeals to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, led by Russia, the former Soviet Union, for help in ending the protests.

January 6

Russia-led troops have arrived, tasked with “protecting the military and military bases and assisting Kazakh lawmakers to stabilize”.

January 7

Tokayev offers a “killing shot without warning” to security forces. Thousands of people were arrested and 26 protesters and 18 police officers were killed. Internet restored slightly.

January 8

Unstable calmness begins again. At least 164 people were killed and thousands were detained during the riots. Karim Massimov, a friend of Nazarbayev’s, was fired as security chief and arrested on sedition charges.