Kazakhstan’s former Defense Minister sentenced to 12 years in prison for the January 2022 riots

March 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –

A Kazakhstan military court has sentenced former Defense Minister Murat Bektanov to 12 years in prison for his role in the January 2022 riots that killed at least 225 people, according to Kazakh authorities.

Attorney General Berik Assilov explained in January that he is accused of issuing “unobeyable” orders, strategically abandoning important military positions and engaging in misconduct while in the service, Kazinform reported.

The case has been considered top secret, and therefore no further details have been disclosed.

Bektanov was arrested in February of last year, when the country’s president at the time, Kasim Jomart Tokayev, accused the Armed Forces of demonstrating “criminal inaction” and not being able to carry out their job correctly, the aforementioned media reports. kazakh.

Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented dozens of cases of arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment and torture in detention in the largest Central Asian country, and denounced the lack of access to lawyers during and after the riots.