On February 14, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev held a working meeting with Prosecutor General Gizat Nurdauletov, who reported on the progress of the investigations on the tragic events of January and the consideration of the citizen complaints about illegal actions taken by law enforcement employees, the press office of Akorda reported.
The Prosecutor General reported that the investigations on 3,070 criminal cases were underway. Of these, 2,710 cases are being investigated by the internal affairs bodies. Basically, these are thefts, robberies, disorderly conduct and seizure of firearms. Based on the citizen complaints, the anti-corruption agency has initiated 173 cases of abuse of power by law enforcement employees. The National Security Committee has initiated 15 cases on high treason and coup attempt. The interdepartmental investigative unit, led by special prosecutors, is working on 179 cases of the riots and acts of terrorism.
The Prosecutor General informed that the cases had been initiated against the law enforcement employees in Almaty and Zhambyl Regions who had fled their assigned service areas during the peak of the riots. Nurdauletov stated that their “cowardly behaviour” let the criminals seize 1,500 firearms. In total, 3,388 firearms were stolen in January, one-third of them were returned, and the rest of the firearms are being searched for.
Underscoring the importance of respecting the constitutional rights of citizens involved in the investigations, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev instructed that citizens be timely informed about the findings of the investigations.
