OSKEMEN, Kazakhstan -- Sixteen men arrested in the northeastern Kazakh city of Oskemen during deadly anti-government demonstrations that shook the country in January have launched a hunger strike to protest the conditions they are held in and a court's decision to extend their pretrial detention.
Anar Qusaiynova, a lawyer representing them, told RFE/RL late on April 7 that the 16 detained men had started their hunger strike the day before.
According to Qusaiynova, the men are demanding to be transferred to house arrest and their cases brought to court quickly.
Nazira Zhylqyshynova, the mother of 24-year-old dentist Nursultan Sultanov, one of those detained and on hunger strike, told RFE/RL that the conditions in the city's central detention center, which is situated in an 18th-century fortress, were "horrible."
"I visited the place to see my son. It's very damp and humid inside. It's probably dangerous for anyone's health. We demand that our sons be released. They have families, mortgages. They will not go anywhere before the trial," Zhylqyshynova said.
Relatives of another man on hunger strike, Semei Ismaghambetov, told RFE/RL that all 16 men were being kept in one cell.
State Penitentiary Service officials told RFE/RL that they were "unaware of any hunger strike" in Oskemen.
Protests in the remote town of Zhanaozen in Kazakhstan's southwest over a sudden fuel-price hike in early January quickly spread across the country and led to violent clashes.
President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev called on the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to send troops to Kazakhstan in the wake of the protests, which were also directed at former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who resigned in 2019 but retained large political influence in the tightly controlled nation with almost limitless powers.
Kazakh authorities say at least 230 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed during the violence, but human rights groups say the number of those killed was much higher, pointing to evidence that there were peaceful demonstrators and people who had nothing to do with the protests among those killed by law enforcement and military personnel.
The authorities say some 800 people have been arrested over the unrest and dozens have been sentenced to various prison terms. There are reports that those in custody have been tortured by the police.