Update by Law Enforcement on Investigation into Kazakhstan’s Tragic January: Conditions of detainees are checked regularly by Prosecutor General’s Office and human rights organizations

Nur-Sultan, 21 February 2022 – Yeldos Kilymzhanov, Deputy Head of the First Service of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan, and Sanjar Adilov, Head of the 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.

Kilymzhanov stated that the Prosecutor General's Office continues to work on establishing the causes and details of the January events. The authorities are finding out every day more details about what happened. For example, he informed that criminals deliberately attacked the buildings of government agencies and committed riots in different regions, blocked roads, and railways. He explained that by doing this, they tried to prevent the arrival of additional law enforcement forces. 

It was further announced that an interdepartmental investigation team led by special prosecutors is investigating 91 cases, including 46 cases of acts of terrorism and 45 cases of riots. As part of the investigation of these cases, 469 persons are being held in custody. Meanwhile, Adilov informed that currently, 2,729 criminal cases are under investigation by the investigators of the internal affairs bodies; under those cases 255 persons are in custody. 1,844 criminal cases are investigated for theft, 343 for illegal arms trafficking, 144 for intentional damage or destruction of property. More than 1,500 individuals and legal entities are recognized as victims.

Kilymzhanov added that the Prosecutor General’s Office regularly checks the conditions of persons in custody. Measures are taken immediately if there are complaints about the conditions of detention. He noted that the premises where detainees are kept are also checked by human rights organizations and other groups, including by the Ombudsperson for Human Rights, groups of members of Parliament, representatives of the National Council of Public Trust, the Public Association “We Are against Torture” and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law.

Adilov stated that active work is continuing to search for the property of citizens and businesses that was stolen during the riots. He informed that to date, the police have found and seized stolen property worth around $280,000 USD. The speaker also informed that to date, 1,006 units of weapons and 20,307 ammunitions that were previously stolen have been seized back by the law enforcement.