Kazakhstan, 8 thousand arrests and 164 dead in protests and purges at the top of the intelligence services continue
About 8,000 people were arrested after a week of violent unrest in Kazakhstan they caused dozens of deaths. “As of January 10, 7,989 people are detained by the organs of the (ministry) of the Interior “, reads a note from the ministry.
However, the Kazakh Ministry of Health has not confirmed the information released by official sources, according to which 164 people were killed in the riots occurred in the last week across the country. This morning, the Kazakhstan Operational Headquarters reported on his Telegram channel citing the Ministry of Health that 164 people were killed during massive anti-government protests and clashes with law enforcement.
“We do not confirm this information “, the Ministry of Health said. The news with the death toll was removed from the Telegram channel of the Operational Headquarters.
Kazakhstan, the president denounces a coup
The violent protests that have caused dozens of deaths in Kazakhstan are a “coup attempt” driven by “armed fighters“. He denounced the Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The president has assured that he will provide the international community with proof of the “involvement of foreign terrorists“in the attempted coup and that his government is facing” aggression from the outside “.” We will never shoot peaceful demonstrators “, assured Tokayev, underlining that the” counter-terrorism operation continues “, but that it is” near the end. “” They went into action groups of armed fighters they were waiting for the right moment. Their main focus became clear … it was a attempted coup“.
Meanwhile the ‘purges’ at the top continue of the Kazakh internal intelligence services after the arrest of the number one of the National Security Committee (KNB), Karim Masimov, accused of high treason in the wake of the unrest which has occurred throughout the country and which the authorities attribute to unspecified “terrorists”. The presidency announced the dismissal of Marat Osipov and Daulet Ergozhin from the role of deputy heads of the KNB, without giving any explanation.
In their place, Bakytbek Koszhanov and Askar Amerkhanov were appointed, while Ermek Sagimbayev, former executive of the Presidential Security Service, was chosen as the head of internal intelligence. To understand in which direction the crisis in Kazakhstan will go, analysts are waiting for Tuesday 11 January, when thespeech by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will speak in Parliament and could appoint new members of the government.
Kazakhstan, Almaty lives “closed in terror: curfew, lack of internet, fuel and bread”
Meanwhile, the city of Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan and the core of the controversial anti-terrorism operation wanted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to quell the protests, re-established the Internet connection after a five day blackout.
However Almaty, “is a closed city and lives in terror“: curfew, soldiers in the street with the order of “shoot to kill”, internet and ATMs in fits and starts. It even got to missing bread. Talking about life under a state of emergency – and with the troops of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) at home – is Dimash Alzhanov, analyst and political activist, reached on the phone by the AGI.
“The military has closed the city”, he reports from Almaty after numerous failed attempts to contact him, “there are checkpoints on the edge of the city‘and they control those traveling by car, you cannot leave Almaty except for specific reasons and in general it is for Kazakh citizens it is forbidden to leave the country“. Alzhanov, with a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, is also among the founders of the civil rights movement Oyan, Qazaqstan (Wake up, Kazakhstan) which has been calling for profound reforms of the political system since 2019.
“Banks and ATMs don’t work, they are there difficulty in withdrawing cash and also in shopping because small shops do not accept cards “, Alzhanov continues.” Besides, there are few products available on the shelves, even bread has gone missing, due to problems in distribution and even all the logistics linked to supermarkets are not working for now “, reports the analyst,” to all this there is also a severe shortage of fuel, each car can only refuel with a few liters “.
Since January 4, when the authorities in Almaty intervened by force against the unprecedented demonstration that, in a peaceful way, had brought in the square between 10 and 15 thousand people – that pushed byincrease in the price of fuel they asked better living conditions – the city lives in terror: “They fired on peaceful demonstrators sowing a general fear, many do not work, there is no money to spend, communicating even by telephone is difficult, Almaty is a closed and scared city all the more that no one understands or explains who the terrorists the authorities are talking about would be‘”.
State channels broadcast the video of an alleged Kyrgyz terrorist offender, who declared in favor of a camera that he had received 200 dollars to take to the streets and carry out violence. Too bad that the man, heavily wounded in the face, was recognized by his family: it is a pianist who had a concert in Almaty. The Kyrgyz authorities have also officially protested and promised that they will do everything possible to save him.
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