Authorities in Kazakhstan have arrested a former defense minister who was dismissed last month amid a consolidation of power by President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev following deadly unrest that swept the country.
The ex-minister, Murat Bektanov, has been charged with inaction under the Criminal Code during the protests and purported rioting at the center of that unrest, according to Interfax-Kazakhstan and Kommersant citing law enforcement agencies.
He is reportedly in pretrial detention in Nur-Sultan, the capital of the post-Soviet Central Asian republic of around 19 million people.
Toqaev dismissed Bektanov on January 19, the same day the Kazakh parliament joined Toqaev's push to deprive influential former President Nursultan Nazarbaev of his lifetime posts atop the Kazakh Security Council and the Assembly of Kazakhstan's People.
Protests in the remote town of Zhanaozen in early January over a sudden fuel-price hike quickly spread across Kazakhstan and led to violent clashes in the country's largest city, Almaty, and elsewhere.
After announcing his resignation in March 2019 and leaving Toqaev in his stead, Nazarbaev retained large political influence in the oil-rich country with almost limitless powers.
Much of the public anger in the unrest appeared to be directed at Nazarbaev.
The crisis prompted Toqaev to seek help from troops from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to quell the unrest.
Toqaev's moves since then appear aimed at ousting Nazarbaev's relatives and allies.
Before his dismissal last month, Bektanov had headed the Defense Ministry since August.
