The trials of those facing charges over December’s fatal violence in Zhanaozen are approaching: Investigators announced on March 2 that they had finished work, paving the way for hearings to start within the coming weeks.
The trials will be open, but – belying official statements that the situation in the town has stabilized – they will be held 120 kilometers away, in Aktau, since Zhanaozen is too “restless” to host them, Aktau-based newspaper Lada quoted a local prosecutor as saying.
The number of protestors standing trial vastly outnumbers the five police officers facing charges, though security forces caused most of the 17 deaths that occurred amid the violence when they opened fire on demonstrators in Zhanaozen and the nearby town of Shetpe.
At least 40 protestors are facing trial, including three on charges of organizing the unrest; 29 people are under arrest, 11 are out on bail and six have been amnestied.
Three police officers face charges of abuse of office over the fatalities, and the former deputy regional police chief will be tried for failing to “prevent the illegal actions of subordinates.” The head of a detention center in which one man, Bazarbay Kenzhebayev, was beaten to death is being charged – but the police officers who inflicted the beating have not been identified.
In addition to the 40 protestors being tried, several activists face 12 years in prison on more serious charges of “inciting social discord.” They include Vladimir Kozlov, leader of the unregistered Alga! party; activists Serik Sapargali, Ayzhangul Amirova, and Zhanbolat Mamay; and theater director Bolat Atambayev.
Kozlov’s wife says she has seen him just once since his January 23 arrest and has accused the security services of “an attempt to isolate my husband.” Last week Kozlov underwent a hernia operation in Almaty, his lawyer said.
Kozlov and newspaper editor Igor Vinyavskiy (arrested on charges of advocating the forcible overthrow of the constitutional order) have been described as “political prisoners” by the head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly human rights committee.
Meanwhile, two opposition leaders from the OSDP Azat party, Bolat Abilov and Amirzhan Kosanov, remain in jail following their arrest on February 25: They were sentenced to 15 days in prison over an unsanctioned protest in Almaty. They declared a hunger strike after their arrest; the party says it has no information on their current state of health.
Joanna Lillis is a journalist based in Almaty and author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan.
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