BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 14
Trend:
Eight officers of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (NSC) and one policeman were detained on suspicion of torture during the January riots in the country, Prosecutor General Berik Asylov said at a meeting of Majilis (lower house of the parliament), Trend reports.
“As regards to the facts of torture of detainees, the prosecutor's office received a total of 301 complaints about unlawful methods of investigation. Based on them, 243 criminal cases on torture and abuse of power were launched,” Asylov noted. “There are 234 criminal cases being investigated by the anti-corruption service. This is their direct jurisdiction under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Nine most important cases when people died in temporary detention centers are being investigated by special prosecutors.”
According to him, the eight officers of NSC and one policeman were detained within the mentioned cases.
“All of them have been arrested by court order. Among them is a policeman who is suspected of torture by using iron in Almaty Regional Police Department,” the prosecutor general further said. “Six employees of the NSC’s department in the city of Almaty are suspected of torturing 24 citizens who were kidnapped by the Wild Arman criminal group. As a result, all the victims were injured, and one person died.”
"Two more employees of the Almaty Regional Police Department are suspected of beating a previously detained person in a temporary detention center, as a result of which he died. The investigations continue,” added Asylov.
Kazakhstan's government announced late Jan. 4 that it was restoring some price caps on liquefied petroleum gas, after the rare protests reached Almaty following a sharp rise in the price of the fuel at the start of the year.
Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, which is far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on Jan. 1. After the price of the fuel spiked, big demonstrations erupted on Jan. 2 in certain parts of the country. Public protests are illegal in the country unless their organizers file a notice in advance.
Following the development of the situation, the government declared a state of emergency all over the country. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the government initiated anti-terrorist operations to deal with the ongoing riots.
Also, the divisions of the united peacekeeping contingent of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) arrived in Kazakhstan to assist in restoring order and help protect strategic objects of the country.