Former Kazakh National Security Committee Chief Gets 18 Years In Prison

Karim Masimov, the former chief of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB), has been sentenced to 18 years in prison over his role in deadly events that followed unprecedented anti-government protests in the Central Asian country in January 2022.

A court in Astana sentenced Masimov on April 24 after finding him guilty of high treason, attempting to seize power by force, and abuse of office and power.

Masimov's former deputies, Anuar Sadyqulov, Daulet Erghozhin, and Marat Osipov, were sentenced to 16, 15, and three years in prison respectively at the same trial.

The court also deprived all of the defendants of the military ranks of general and all state awards. The trial was held behind closed doors as it included classified materials, the court said.

The 57-year-old Masimov, once known as a close ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, was arrested along with Erghozhin and Sadyqulov days after the protests turned into mass unrest, leaving at least 238 people -- including 19 law enforcement officers -- dead.

Osipov was arrested in February 2022.

Masimov's first deputy, Samat Abish, a nephew of Nazarbaev, was fired from his post but did not face charges.

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The protests began in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen in January 2022 over a sudden fuel price hike. But the demonstrations quickly grew into broader unrest against corruption, political stagnation, and widespread injustice.

Much of the protesters' anger appeared directed at Nazarbaev, who ruled Kazakhstan from 1989 until March 2019, when he handed power to Toqaev. However, Nazarbaev was widely believed to remain in control behind the scenes.

The protests were violently dispersed by police and military personnel, including troops of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization that Toqaev invited into the country claiming that "20,000 extremists who were trained in terrorist camps abroad" attacked Almaty.

The authorities have provided no evidence backing Toqaev's claim about foreign terrorists.