ALMATY -- On the evening of January 6, 2022, amateur archaeologist Yerlan Zhagiparov was detained by security forces in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty.
Days later, Zhagiparov's family collected his battered body, pierced by gunshot wounds, from the city morgue. The tag on his body read: "Unidentified person of Asian ethnicity."
Zhagiparov was among the hundreds of people killed during the state’s deadly crackdown on unprecedented anti-government protests that rocked the Central Asian nation in January 2022.
Many of the victims were bystanders who were killed by police and military personnel after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev issued a "shoot-to-kill-without-warning" order. Kazakh officials have acknowledged that another six people were tortured to death in custody.
The authorities promised to bring to justice those responsible for the unlawful deaths and serious injuries of protesters and the torture of detainees. But one year on, the families of many of the victims are still waiting for justice.
“It was clarified what gun was used, and the person was identified and questioned,” Zhagiparov’s brother, Nurlan, told RFE/RL, referring to discussions he and his lawyer had with prosecutors in the first half of 2022.
“After that, the investigation immediately slowed down,” said Nurlan Zhagiparov, who lives in Britain. “The man who clearly killed my brother has not been arrested, and the case has not gone to court. They do not want to publicize the case. But I know who killed my brother.”
He added that the closed nature of the investigation prevents him from disclosing the man’s name and rank.
'One-Sided' Investigation
Kazakh officials have said 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed during the worst unrest in Kazakhstan since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Human rights groups insist that the number is higher.
In many of the cases, the circumstances of death remain unclear, and prosecutors have cited Kazakh law and the requests of victims’ families for privacy as reasons not to disclose further details.
Only one military officer has been prosecuted over abuses committed during the crackdown. In November, Mark Zlunyaev was sentenced to six years in prison over the death of a shepherd who was shot near a military facility in the southern city of Taldykorgan.
In contrast, more than 1,000 protesters and others have been convicted, including on charges of “participating in mass riots,” according to a December report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
HRW, citing local independent human rights monitors, said the authorities have closed at least 32 cases relating to the deaths of 139 people. The rights groups said the “authorities’ investigation into the events [of January 2022] has been one-sided.”
The anti-government demonstrations were sparked by a fuel price hike, but quickly grew into a show of anger over corruption and nepotism that has plagued the country for years.
Toqaev has maintained that the authorities’ bloody response to the protests, including the deployment of Russia-led troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), was justified.
Toqaev has publicly blamed what he said were foreign-backed "extremists" for attacking Almaty during the unrest. He has not produced any evidence to back up the claim.
'January's Tragedy'
Under pressure from civil society and the families of victims, Kazakh courts in late January 2022 ordered the release, pending trial, of dozens of people who claimed they had been arbitrarily detained and tortured. In many cases, they were detained in hospitals where they were being treated for gunshot wounds.
One of them was Darkhan Dusibaev, who told RFE/RL that a court dismissed the case against him in August. But he is angry that two of the men released with him were rearrested and face even more serious charges.
Dusibaev said Qosai Makhanbaev and Akylzhan Kisymbaev “did nothing illegal” during the protests. But he said they were being punished for their activism following their release, including attending several protests against torture and perceived bias in the investigation.
“The government was just afraid of them,” said Dusibaev.
WATCH: A "shoot-to-kill" order against nationwide protests in Kazakhstan had many victims. It was issued by President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev on January 7, 2022. That same day, the family of 4-year-old Aikorkem says she lost her life when troops opened fire on the car she was traveling in.
Kisymbaev’s lawyer, Galym Nurpeisov, told RFE/RL that the new charges against his client -- including fomenting disorder to seize power -- are not related to the protests in January but to an alleged anti-government plot foiled by the authorities more recently. The lawyer called the charges “absurd.”
“I spoke recently to Akylzhan, and he told me that investigators had offered him his freedom if he implicated several other detainees,” Nurpeisov said. “Prosecutors also told us that Akylzhan had not watched his words after his release, when he called for President Toqaev to face justice.”
Kazakhstan’s president “now needs new terrorists,” Nurpeisov told RFE/RL, “to deflect attention away from the main figure responsible for January’s tragedy -- Mr. Toqaev himself.”
