ASTANA -- Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has agreed with the presidential commission on clemencies to reject a pardon request filed by Karim Masimov, a once-powerful politician who was prime minister twice and is now serving 18 years in prison on charges of high treason and attempting to seize power during unrest in 2022.
The Informburo.kz website said on July 23 that it received a statement from the presidential administration saying that Toqaev's final decision had been delivered to Masimov.
Masimov officially asked Toqaev for clemency in March.
Last month, the presidential commission on clemencies said that it had decided to reject Masimov's request and recommended Toqaev not pardon him.
Officials said at the time that despite the appeal, Masimov still faced charges of bribe taking and money laundering, which were then under investigation.
Masimov, a close ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, was jailed in April 2023 over his role in the deadly events that followed unprecedented anti-government protests in the former Soviet republic in January 2022.
The unrest began in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen over a sudden fuel price hike. But the demonstrations, buffeted 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 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 backing Toqaev's claim about foreign terrorists.
Masimov was the head of Kazakhstan's Committee for National Security when the protests took place.