NUR-SULTAN — Violent unrest in
Kazakhstan that began
with peaceful protests in early January over energy prices has left 225 people
dead, authorities said Saturday, in a dramatic increase on previous tolls.
اضافة اعلان
The demonstrations spiraled into unprecedented clashes
between security forces and anti-government protesters in the energy-rich
ex-Soviet state, prompting President
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to declare a state
of emergency and call in help from a Russian-led military bloc.
"During the state of emergency, the bodies of 225
people were delivered to morgues, of which 19 were law enforcement officers and
military personnel," Serik Shalabayev, a representative of the state
prosecutor, said at a briefing Saturday.
Others were "armed bandits who participated in
terrorist attacks", Shalabayev added.
"Unfortunately, civilians have also become victims of
acts of terrorism."
Kazakhstan had previously acknowledged fewer than 50
fatalities — 26 "armed criminals" and 18 security officers in the
conflict that exposed infighting at the very top of the government.
A higher death toll of 164 that appeared on an official
Telegram channel last week was quickly retracted.
Asel Artakshinova, a spokeswoman for the health ministry,
said that more than 2,600 people had sought treatment at hospitals, with 67
currently in a serious condition.
Authorities in Kazakhstan have blamed the violence on
bandits and international "terrorists" that they said hijacked the
protests that saw the epicenter of unrest move from the west to the country's
largest city Almaty.
They have not provided evidence about who the alleged
foreign bandits and terrorists were.
The protests have been the biggest threat so far to the
regime established by Kazakhstan's founding president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who
stepped down in 2019 and hand-picked Tokayev as his successor.
Nazarbayev relatives sacked
Much of the popular anger has appeared directed at
Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing over
power.
Many protesters shouted "Old Man Out!" in
reference to Nazarbayev, and a statue of him was torn down in the southern city
of Taldykorgan.
Tokayev this week launched an unprecedented attack on
Nazarbayev, saying his mentor had failed to share the Central Asian country's
vast wealth with ordinary Kazakhs.
On Saturday, the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna said
two of Nazarbayev's relatives, Dimash Dosanov and Kairat Sharipbayev, had lost
their jobs at the helm of energy companies.
The moves were made "in accordance with the decision of
the board of directors", the fund said.
Sharipbayev, 58, is widely believed to be the husband of
Nazarbayev's oldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva. He was in charge of the
national gas company QazaqGaz, formerly KazTransGas.
Dosanov, 40, is the husband of Nazarbayev's youngest
daughter, Aliya Nazarbayeva, 41, and was the head of the national oil
transporter KazTransOil.
The president has in part blamed QazaqGaz for the historic
crisis, which started with a spike in prices for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG),
a popular fuel, sparking peaceful protests at the start of January.
Troops from the Moscow-led
Collective Security Treaty Organization that helped calm the violence in the Central Asian country began a
gradual withdrawal on Thursday.
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