Kazakhstan says it has launched nearly 100 investigations into alleged illegal detentions and rights abuses of those arrested during and after the deadly anti-government protests last month, heeding the demands of domestic and international human rights groups.
Answering a call from Human Rights Watch earlier this week to thoroughly investigate the complaints, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a February 3 statement that it would meet the request of the international watchdog, which echoed similar demands from other human rights groups.
"According to the data from the Prosecutor-General's Office, authorities have to date launched 98 criminal cases concerning complaints of the use of illegal methods of investigation and other violations of the rights of citizens," a Foreign Ministry statement said, adding that the tightly controlled former Soviet republic's authorities "are ready and willing to thoroughly review each individual case raised by the public in Kazakhstan and internationally."
Kazakh authorities initially said the number of people arrested during and after the protests was between 10,000 and 12,000, though most of have been released.
Human rights groups in Kazakhstan say the number of people still under arrest across the country because of the protests is currently about 1,000, many of whom are being beaten and tortured in custody.
On February 3, dozens of relatives of those under arrest gathered at a local human rights organization in the capital of the Almaty region, Taldyqorghan, demanding their loved ones be released and saying that they were being tortured.
A peaceful protest in the Central Asian country's western region of Manghystau on January 2 over a fuel-price hike led to mass anti-government protests across the country and ended with deadly shootings in the largest city of Almaty and elsewhere.
During the protests, the authorities switched off the Internet and restricted mobile-phone operations for five days.
President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev blamed rights activists and independent journalists for "inciting" the protests, which led to the arrest of several reporters in towns and cities across the country.
Toqaev said in the wake of the protests that "20,000 extremists trained in foreign terrorist camps" attacked Almaty, but he has never provided any evidence to support the claim.
As the unrest spread, Toqaev requested help from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, which sent troops to help "stabilize" the situation.
Toqaev also publicly said then that he had ordered security forces "to shoot to kill without warning."
Kazakh authorities have said that 227 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed across the country.
SEE ALSO: 'I Don't Know If She's Dead Or Alive': Desperate Kazakh Families Looking For Relatives After UnrestHuman rights groups say the exact number of people killed during the unrest may be much higher, providing evidence proving that there were peaceful demonstrators and persons who had nothing to do with the protests among those killed by law enforcement and military personnel.
On February 2, activist Marat Turymbetov wrote on Facebook that Almaty city authorities had rejected activists' request for permission to hold a public event on February 13 to commemorate those killed during the protests.
Turymbetov said the event will be held even though official permission was not granted.