NUR-SULTAN -- Police in Kazakhstan's capital, Nur-Sultan, have detained about 20 people who rallied in front of the government headquarters to demand justice for those killed or arrested in the violent dispersal of anti-government demonstrations in January.
Some of the protesters who rallied on September 6 came from the cities of Almaty, Taraz, Qyzylorda, and Taldyqorghan as they seek the posthumous dropping of all charges against those who died, as well as thorough investigations into the deaths.
Others demanded the immediate release of relatives arrested during and after the unprecedented, nationwide anti-government protests that, according to officials, left at least 238 people dead.
One of the protesters, Sania Tunghatarova from the oil-rich Central Asian country's largest city, Almaty, told RFE/RL that police used force while detaining people, injuring some of the protesters in the process.
She added that the protesters gathered in front of government headquarters the day before and were told by the authorities to come back the next day to deliver their written complaints, but when they came to do so, police forcibly took them away for questioning to several police stations in Nur-Sultan.
The chairman of the independent public commission investigating the January unrest, Rysbek Sarsenbaiuly, was detained along with the protesters. Police had to call an ambulance for him after he felt unwell during questioning.
The January unrest occurred after a peaceful demonstration on January 2 in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic's western region of Manghystau over a fuel-price hike led to widespread antigovernment protests.
Thousands of people were detained by officials during and after the protests, which President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said were caused by "20,000 terrorists" from abroad, a claim for which authorities have provided no evidence, but which was officially named as a reason to invite Russian-led troops of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to Kazakhstan for help.
Human rights groups say the number of dead was much higher than any of the various figures provided by officials. The groups have provided evidence that peaceful demonstrators and people who had nothing to do with the protests were among those killed by law enforcement and military personnel.
Toqaev's government has rejected calls by Kazakh and global human rights groups for an international probe into the deaths.
In late June, Kazakhstan's deputy prosecutor-general, Aset Shyndaliev, said that six people were tortured to death after being arrested for taking part in the January protests, while eight officers of the Committee of National Security (KNB) and a police officer had been arrested for torturing suspects.
Overall, he said, 15 officers are suspected of using torture and illegal methods of interrogation on people arrested during and after the unrest.
The Prosecutor-General's Office has said that 25 people were officially considered victims of torture by hot irons used by investigators on them during interrogations related to the unrest.
On September 1, Toqaev said a mass amnesty will be declared soon for all individuals involved in the unrest and its aftermath, including law enforcement officers.
Many relatives of the killed and arrested during and after the unrest considered the clemency idea as a move to evade investigations of the unrest.