The security services of Kazakhstan announced this Thursday, November 17 the arrest of seven people accused of "
preparing riots for November 20
", the day of the presidential election in this authoritarian country of Central Asia.
The “
arrested criminal group
” planned in particular to “
prepare riots, attack law enforcement buildings
” using “
weapons and incendiary mixtures
”, according to a statement from the National Security Committee (KNB), less one year after the repression of unprecedented riots which claimed the lives of 238 people.
Accused of preparing a "coup"
The seven arrested suspects were preparing a "
coup
" on the day of the presidential election, Sunday, and are supporters of the opponent in exile Mukhtar Ablyazov, said the security services of this authoritarian country in Central Asia.
The suspects "
share the views of exiled opponent Mukhtar Ablyazov
" and "
discussed plans to organize riots, a coup and proclaim a provisional government
", according to this source. These arrests come less than a year after the repression of unprecedented riots which claimed the lives of 238 people.
Protests since January
In a video, the KNB adds that "
since the events of January, radical elements have continued to develop plans to destabilize the country and seize cities in Kazakhstan, including Almaty and Astana
", the country's largest city and capital city.
In early January, protests in Kazakhstan over rising fuel prices escalated into clashes between police and demonstrators in Almaty, devastating the center of this city of nearly two million people.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, candidate for re-election on Sunday, then ordered to "shoot to kill".
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Officially, 238 people had been killed and at least 12,000 people had been arrested during these unrest of an unprecedented scale since the independence in 1991 of this former Soviet republic.
The government has been accused by human rights defenders of firing into the crowd and torturing many of those arrested.
