Update by Law Enforcement on Investigation into Kazakhstan’s Tragic January: Police Assists Injured Citizens, Damaged Businesses
Nur-Sultan, 2 March 2022– Yeldos Kilymzhanov, Deputy Head of the 1stService of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan, and Sanjar Adilov, Head of Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan, provided today another update on the investigation into the tragic events in early January in Kazakhstan.
Adilov stated that the work of the police is first and foremost aimed at assisting injured citizens and owners of damaged businesses, and at taking measures to compensate for the damage. It was announced that more than4,000 peoplewere injured during the January events, including2,402 police officersand990 military personnelinvolved in maintaining public order.
It was further announced that3,666 pre-trial investigationsare being processed by investigative groups. They include cases of acts of terrorism and riots, robberies, theft, theft of weapons, and the use of violence against law enforcement officers.101criminal cases against162accused have been sent to court.62persons have been sentenced to various types of punishments. In addition,2,997criminal cases are under investigation by the internal affairs bodies.194persons are being held in custody.152of them were arrested for theft during riots,22for illegal possession of weapons and24for theft of weapons.
Kilymzhanov confirmed once again that the Prosecutor General’s Office regularly checks the conditions of the detainees in custody. There are currently751 personsin pre-trial detention centers. He added that the premises are also checked by human rights organizations, including theCommissioner for Human Rights, and members of the Coordinating Council and theNational Preventive Mechanism, who have made118 visitsto detention centers in all regions of the country.
Adilov further informed that1,502 businesseswere attacked during the riots. He added that the police have found and seized stolen property worth over 288 million tenge($588,412 USD). The speaker also stated that1,069 weaponsand21,759 munitionswere found and recovered by the police.