More than 800 people remain in detention after unrest in Kazakhstan

Police officers near the fire-damaged Akimat building in Alma-AtaALMA-ATA, Jan 4 More than 800 people with the sanction of the courts, they are in custody as part of criminal cases investigated after the January riots in Kazakhstan, said Yeldos Kilymzhanov, deputy head of the first service of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic. 802 suspects are being held under court order,” he said at a briefing on Friday.In Kazakhstan, 98 cases were opened on complaints about the actions of the police during the riotsAccording to a representative of the prosecutor's office, among those arrested, 113 people have a criminal record for murder, theft, robbery and robbery, among them there are adherents of radical religious movements. «91 persons were subjected to preventive measures not related to strict isolation from the society,» Kilymzhanov added. «For example, in relation to 11 suspects, prosecutors refused to support petitions for sanctioning a measure of restraint. 103 citizens were released from temporary detention centers under supervision,» Kilymzhanov said. The court, when studying the materials in relation to 80 suspects, refused to authorize a measure of restraint. In early January, mass protests took place in Kazakhstan. In the first days of 2022, residents of the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the west of the country opposed the doubling of prices for liquefied gas. Later, the protests spread to other cities, including Alma-Ata, the old capital and the largest city of the republic: looting began there, militants attacked state institutions, took away weapons. The authorities declared a state of emergency throughout the country until January 19 and carried out a counter-terrorism operation. According to the UN, during the protests in Kazakhstan, about 1,000 people were injured. According to the country's Prosecutor General's Office, 4,578 people were injured as a result of the riots, 225 people were killed, including 19 security officials.