Kazakhstan | The former head of the secret service arrested for treason

(Almaty) Kazakhstan announced on Saturday the arrest of the former head of intelligence on suspicion of “treason” during the riots that rocked the country, with Russia rejecting American criticism of its military deployment to support power.

The National Security Committee (KNB) announced that its former director, Karim Massimov, 56, had been taken into custody on Thursday after the launch of an investigation for “high treason”.

The first political figure arrested, Mr. Massimov was sacked this week after the outbreak of protests that shook Kazakhstan and killed dozens of people, especially in Almaty, the country’s economic capital.

A long-time ally of the former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, of whom he was prime minister twice, Karim Massimov had headed the KNB since 2016.

The KNB announced in a statement that it had opened an investigation for high treason on Thursday, adding that Mr. Massimov was arrested the same day, “on suspicion of having committed this crime”.

In addition, Russian President Vladimir Poutine and his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev had a “long” telephone conversation and agreed to stay in “permanent” contact, the Kremlin announced on Saturday.

A contingent of Russian troops and other countries allied with Moscow is present in Kazakhstan, the former Soviet republic of Central Asia, to support the authorities in place by protecting strategic buildings and supporting the police.

On Saturday, Moscow denounced the words, qualified as “rude”, of the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had estimated Friday that “once the Russians are at home, it is sometimes very difficult to make them leave”.

“Once the Americans are in your house, it can be difficult to stay alive, not to be looted or raped,” the Russian Foreign Ministry retorted.

After several days of violence, especially in Almaty where the security forces fired live ammunition at rioters who set fire to several buildings, the situation seemed calmer on Saturday, even if the tension remained visible.

In Almaty, the police fired shots in the air to prevent people from approaching a central square, noted an AFP journalist.

68-year-old retiree Leonid Kiselev recounts in shock that his car was hit by gunfire in the morning as he was driving near official buildings.

“The situation was calm, so I got out my car,” stammers this retiree met in the queue in front of a gas station, showing the projectile that pierced the trunk of his vehicle.

“Bandits”

Notably, the spokesperson for Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has not appeared in public since the start of the riots and had not spoken until then, said on Saturday that the former president called on the population to support the government. to “overcome this crisis”.

The spokesperson, Aïdos Oukibaï, also qualified as “false information” the press articles affirming that the ex-leader, aged 81, had fled abroad with his family.

The figure of Mr. Nazarbayev, who ruled Kazakhstan from 1989 to 2019, has been at the heart of the riots in recent days.

Because beyond the rise in gas prices, the spark that ignited the powder, the anger of the demonstrators was particularly directed against the former president, whom they accuse with his clan of large-scale corruption.

Even after handing over power to Mr. Tokayev, Mr. Nazarbayev retained great influence and is considered a mentor to his successor.

The latter authorized the security forces on Friday to “shoot to kill” in order to quell any rebellion and, with the support of Russia, ruled out negotiating with the demonstrators, calling them “bandits”.

4000 arrests

The unrest shaking this country of 19 million inhabitants, the largest in Central Asia, worries Westerners.

Germany announced on Saturday that it was stopping its arms exports to Kazakhstan.

The EU called for “restraint” on Friday, with Beijing welcoming on the contrary the “strong measures” taken by the Kazakh president.

The authorities claimed that 26 “armed criminals” had been killed and more than a thousand demonstrators injured, the police also reporting 18 killed and 748 wounded in their ranks. More than 4,000 people have been arrested.

These figures could not be independently verified.

The first known foreign victim, a 22-year-old Israeli national living in Kazakhstan, was shot and killed on Friday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

As a sign that the situation had not completely returned to normal, Almaty airport, which announced on Saturday that it would reopen on Monday, will ultimately remain closed “for an indefinite period”, local media reported.