Amnesty International Demands Kazakh Authorities To Disclose Deaths During Protests

Amnesty International has asked the government of Kazakhstan to disclose information about civilian casualties during the protests in the country. Message published by on the organization’s website.

“The silence of the authorities regarding the number of victims of the riots and the circumstances of their death is outrageous,” Marie Struthers, director of Amnesty International for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, quoted in the statement.

The statement also said that the Kazakh authorities should immediately release the journalists and activists “who were arbitrarily detained for their coverage of the mass protests of the last week and a half, provide information on all arrests related to the protests, and ensure that the human rights of all detainees are respected.”

Human rights activists note that, according to official government figures, the number of people arrested since the start of the protests on January 2 has reached almost 10,000.

Amnesty International called on the Kazakh authorities to conduct “effective and impartial investigations into all reports of human rights violations, including the use of lethal force by security forces, and respect human rights in the context of unrest.”

In early January, protests broke out in several cities of Kazakhstan, which lasted for several days. During this time, more than a hundred protesters were killed, and the number of those detained approached the mark of six thousand people. The protests were triggered by a sharp rise in prices for liquefied gas, but subsequently the residents of Kazakhstan began to put forward political demands – in particular, the departure of Nursultan Nazarbayev from politics.