Human Rights Watch has called on Kazakh authorities to thoroughly investigate all torture allegations and end abuses of activists and others "arbitrarily" detained during and after a wave of deadly unrest swept across the Central Asian country last month.
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HRW said in a statement on February 1 that it had received "credible reports" of dozens of cases in which police "arbitrarily detained peaceful protesters" and others and subjected some detainees to ill-treatment and torture, including with electric shocks and beatings with batons.
The report added that the group had documented cases of authorities arbitrarily interfering in the work of lawyers as they tried to handle cases.
"Kazakh authorities should immediately put a stop to the abuses, ensure that every detainee’s rights are protected, and bring to justice those who beat or tortured them,” Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW, said in the statement.
A peaceful protest in the tightly controlled nation's western region of Manghystau on January 2 over a hike in fuel prices led to mass anti-government protests across the country and ended with deadly shootings in the nation's largest city of Almaty and elsewhere.
During the protests, Kazakh 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.
SEE ALSO: HRW Urges Kazakhstan To Thoroughly Investigate Killings Of Demonstrators In AlmatyToqaev said in the wake of the protests that "20,000 extremists trained in foreign terrorist camps" attacked Almaty, but he did not provide any evidence to support the claim. As the unrest spread, Toqaev requested help from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
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.
Human rights groups say the exact number of people killed during the unrest may be much higher.