Kazakhstan is continuing to prosecute those connected to the Bloody January events of 2022. A trial in an Almaty district court resulted in the convictions on June 11 of 11 defendants accused of attacking government buildings amidst the bout of upheaval.
One of the defendants, Akzhol Zhandarbekov, was found guilty of “participation in mass riots,” “invasion of a building,” “use of violence against a government official,” and “taking a serviceman hostage.” He received a four-year prison sentence. The other 10 defendants, ranging in age from 22 to 53, were found guilty of “participation in mass riots” and “attacks on buildings and structures,” and each received sentences of one year and nine months.
Some of the defendants insisted they were innocent. Most said they were subjected to police brutality and coercive tactics while in custody.
The sentences on June 11 seemed lenient compared with prison terms handed out during earlier Bloody January trials. In November 2022, for example, an entrepreneur from the southern city of Kyzylorda, Kazybek Kudaibergenov, received a 17-year sentence for “participation in mass riots” and “attack on the life of a military serviceman in an emergency situation or during mass riots.” Kudaibergenov insisted he was innocent of the charges.
Under the same articles, in early 2023 a court in the Aktobe region in western Kazakhstan sentenced a local resident, 32-year-old Nursultan Isaev, to 15 years in prison. According to investigators, he “deliberately hit police officers with a car” during the riots.
Human Rights activists argue that the recently completed trial, like previous cases connected to the January events, ignored evidence beneficial to the accused, while relying heavily on circumstantial evidence. Kanat Beisebaev, a lawyer who defended one of those accused of participating in the riots, asserted that many of the defendants were bystanders, not protagonists.
“All judicial decisions should be made on the basis of facts, law and justice, but this is not happening,” Beisebaev said.
Almost 1,400 individuals have been convicted of criminal behavior in connection with Bloody January. Many of the judicial procedures involving Bloody January have been closed to the public. Thus, the proceedings have not shed much light on the chain of events and how it led to violent confrontations between protesters and security forces.
