Press Release of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan

The chronology of the development of the tragic “January events” is as follows.

In general, the developments of these events may be divided into three waves.

The first wave - peaceful demonstrators, the second wave - involvement of criminals and looters to the peaceful demonstrations, and the third wave - armed criminals.

         We were dealing with an unusual - hybrid form of protests - when some went to a peaceful rally, others became victims of violent extremism, another ones were petty criminals and looters, and the fourth were terrorists planning to takeover the power.

         The criminals set fire and robbed various business facilities and vehicles of the city residents. At the same time, the participants in the riots began to arm themselves.

         In total, during the January events, 3,388 weapons were stolen, including 1,629 guns from 10 hunting shops. A third or 967 units of this volume were found.

         The buildings of the akimat, shopping centers, bank branches, vehicles of the Border Service of the National Security Committee and the police were set on fire. The building of Almaty International Airport was seized and looted.

         As a result of attacks, criminals destroyed 1466 buildings and institutions, 71 state institutions, 1395 business facilities in the cities of Almaty, Taldykorgan, Taraz, Shymkent, Aktobe and others.

         More than 700 vehicles, including 345 official vehicles of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, police and other public services, 116 civilian vehicles were destroyed and damaged. The total preliminary damage is over 100 billion tenge (according to the report of the “Atameken” Chamber of Entrepreneurs - 152 billion tenge).

         The total number of participants in riots and armed attacks in Almaty was over twenty thousand.

         Similarly, buildings of regional akimats in Aktobe, Atyrau, Kyzylorda and Zhambyl regions were seized and subjected to destruction through the use of violence.

         As a result of the tragic “January events” more than 4,578 people suffered, of which 4,353 were injured, including 3,393 employees of law enforcement agencies (78%). 238 people were killed, 19 of them - police and military officers.

An investigation of these cases is underway. The causes and circumstances of death are being conducted, which will take time.

         Today, investigation groups are conducting 3,193 criminal cases, including 46 cases on acts of terrorism, 94 on murders, 45 on riots and others.

         The criminal cases against 86 persons have been completed and filed to the court. These are ordinary crimes (thefts, robberies, possession and theft of weapons, etc.), which are investigated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (police).

          As of today 727 persons have been under court arrest.

Their involvement in crimes was verified not only by prosecutors, but also by the court when authorizing the arrest.

         It should be noted that all reports by international human rights institutions (about allegedly arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment and torture of peaceful demonstrators and other persons), including those posted in the media, are verified by prosecutors.

         Each fact will be carefully investigated with an appropriate legal assessment.

         In the Republic, prosecutors have changed preventive measures for 158 persons from detention to a written undertaking not to leave the country.

         To date, the prosecutor’s office has received 363 claims of citizens about illegal methods of investigation and violations of the rights of citizens during the investigation by police officers.

         Based on 188 claims, prosecutors launched a pre-trial investigation on facts of torture and abuse of power.

         The courts heard 9,300 administrative cases related to the January events and a warning was issued against 4,628 persons.

         Currently, on 2,087 appeals (protests) of prosecutors, the terms of administrative arrests in respect of 1,153 persons have been reduced, 779 fines have been replaced with warnings. 879 administrative cases were dismissed due to the end of state of emergency.

         Weekly, the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs give briefings about taken measures on ensuring constitutional rights of citizens who have fallen into the criminal orbit or arrested for administrative misdemeanors.