Statement by Senior Assistant to Prosecutor General of the Republic of Kazakhstan Azamat Sargazin at the online media briefing on 18 January 2022
Dear citizens!
As you all know since 1 January this year unauthorized rallies have begun in the Mangystau region due to an increase in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Citizens in a number of other regions of the country supported them.
At the same time, everyone understands that law-abiding is a duty and responsibility of each person.
Therefore, the Prosecutor General’s Office and local prosecutors have repeatedly explained to those gathered since the early days the need to comply with the law.
People were warned against illegal actions. After all, in the case of offence, the law enforcement agencies must take measures to bring the perpetrators to criminal or administrative responsibility.
During these events, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan also urged the population to show prudence and not to give in to provocations.
Unfortunately, some citizens ignored all the appeals regarding the inadmissibility of illegal actions.
From the very beginning, the procedure for holding peaceful assemblies established by the law was violated. Despite this, no action was taken against the violators, as the protests were peaceful in nature.
Bandits, who used force and weapons, exploited the situation, encouraged others to do so, seized buildings, set fire to buildings and vehicles, and killed people.
After that, the perpetrators were detained and taken to the police to ensure public order and stop crimes.
Depending on the nature of their actions and the consequences, they have been held administratively liable or have been the subject of criminal proceedings.
In keeping with this position, the Prosecutor General’s Office will continue to take further steps to ensure law and order.
The actions of each offender will be objectively and thoroughly checked, and penalties will be taken according to the nature of the offence committed and the individuality of the perpetrator.
The President has instructed the Office of the Prosecutor General to establish the degree of guilt and, should there be no aggravating circumstances, to mitigate the punishment of persons detained these days for various offenses.
I would like to dwell separately on administrative offences.
8,354 administrative cases related to these events have been considered by the courts.
Courts and prosecutors take into account mitigating circumstances and the remorse of perpetrators.
3,337 offenders received only cautioning, with no penalties of arrest or fine imposed.
The court imposed a fine in 1,653 cases.
1,002 persons are currently under arrest.
1,758 requests have been made by the prosecutors to appeal bodies in order to mitigate the penalties imposed by the court.
At present, 676 citizens have already been released from custody at the request of prosecutors.
A fine has been replaced with a warning for 344 persons.
738 requests of prosecutors for mitigation of punishment and replacement of fines with warnings are under consideration.
Besides, another 358 administrative cases were terminated without sending the materials to court.
Thus, as can be seen from the above data, most of those ordered by courts to administrative detentions have been released. The work on the rest of the cases is underway.
At the same time, 695 pre-trial investigations have been initiated for grave and particularly grave crimes, including 44 cases of terrorism, 15 cases of murder and 6 cases of propaganda and calls for seizure of power.
780 have been detained as suspects, of whom 695 have been sentenced to arrest.
I would like to stress once again that these cases relate to the category of serious and particularly serious crimes.
In all of them, the prosecutors ensure that the rights of citizens are respected.
All those involved in criminal cases, including all those detained, are provided with timely legal assistance.
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