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Majlis Podcast: What Will Follow Kazakhstan's Harsh Crackdown On Protests?


A Kazakh soldier patrols a street as relatives of the arrested in the anti-government protests gather near a police station in Almaty.
A Kazakh soldier patrols a street as relatives of the arrested in the anti-government protests gather near a police station in Almaty.

Order has been restored in Kazakhstan after days of unrest during which President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev gave police and the army orders to shoot to kill.

The consequences of that order, and of the heavy hand Kazakh security forces used to quell the unrest, are starting to become clear.

More than 10,000 people were detained, and officially, at least 225 people are dead.

Victims and witnesses are recounting the tales of indiscriminate shooting by law enforcement, beatings of people being detained, and wounded people being taken from hospitals by security forces.

Some people still don't know what happened to relatives and friends who disappeared during the unrest.

Rights and activist groups in Kazakhstan are looking into multiple abuses committed during the state or emergency and calling for an independent investigation into the authorities' reaction to the unrest.

On this week's Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion that looks to the efforts of some individuals and organizations to obtain a full accounting of the actions of the authorities during the worst turbulence Kazakhstan has seen in its 30-year history.

This week's guests are all from Kazakhstan: Yevgeny Zhovtis, the director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law; Asia Tulesova, co-founder of the Oyan Qazaqstan (Wake Up Kazakhstan) movement for political reform; Dana Zhanai, the director of the Qaharman (Hero) rights foundation; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

The Impact Of Kazakh Unrest On Human Rights, Rule Of Law
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Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

About This Blog

Qishloq Ovozi is a blog by RFE/RL Central Asia specialist Bruce Pannier that aims to look at the events that are shaping Central Asia and its respective countries, connect the dots to shed light on why those processes are occurring, and identify the agents of change.​

The name means "Village Voice" in Uzbek. But don't be fooled, Qishloq Ovozi is about all of Central Asia.

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