Karim Masimov, a once-powerful politician who twice served as Kazakhstan's prime minister, has officially asked President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev for clemency from a treason conviction dating to when he was the chief of the National Security Committee (KNB).
Informburo.kz website quoted KNB officials on June 10 as saying that Masimov, who is serving an 18-year prison sentence on charges of high treason and attempting to seize power during unrest in 2022, had filed papers asking for a presidential pardon in March.
The officials added that Masimov still faces charges of bribe-taking and money laundering, which are currently under investigation.
Masimov, a close ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, was jailed in April 2023 over his role in deadly events that followed unprecedented anti-government protests in the former Soviet republic in January 2022.
The protests began in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen in January 2022 over a sudden fuel price hike. But the demonstrations, fueled by anger over corruption, political stagnation, and widespread injustice, quickly grew.
Much of the protesters' ire appeared directed at Nazarbaev, who ruled Kazakhstan from 1989 until March 2019, when he handed over power to President Qasym-Zhomart 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 whom Toqaev invited into the country claiming that "20,000 extremists who were trained in terrorist camps abroad" had attacked Almaty.
The authorities have provided no evidence proving Toqaev’s claim about foreign terrorists.