Kosai Makhambaev received 15 days of administrative arrest for allegedly organizing an illegal rally near the building of the City Prosecutor’s Office in Almaty.
As ACCA has already reported, on the morning of June 1, relatives of those killed and arrested during the January events, as well as the victims themselves, gathered near the Prosecutor’s Office in Almaty. They came to find out what the response of the supervisory body would be to their demand for a fair and transparent investigation of the January events and the punishment of those who had killed the protesters and those who had tortured the detainees.
The head of the initiative group, Kosai Makhambaev, and three other people were immediately detained and taken to the police in order to prevent their participation in this meeting. However, a few hours later, all four were released. But as it turned out, not for long.
In the evening of the same day, Makhambaev and four other people from the initiative group were again detained and taken to the police department of Bostandyk district of Almaty.
There, written explanations were taken from all the detainees about the reasons for holding a peaceful protest, indicating its organizer. After that, all five were released. However, on the morning of June 2, Kosai Makhambaev was arrested for 15 days for violating the law on peaceful assemblies.
It should be noted that Kosai Makhambaev is an injured participant in the January rallies. He received a gunshot wound and was tortured after being detained. Having been released, Makhambaev organized an initiative group of victims of the January events, as well as relatives of the dead and detainees. The initiative group demands an honest and fair investigation of every case of murder, detention and torture. In addition, the initiative group shot a documentary film “They killed us” which is about the January events.
Let us also recall that, according to the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations of Kazakhstan against Torture, the authorities of the country are absolutely not interested in solving crimes of torture: cases are closed without any serious grounds, the victims are pressured to conclude procedural agreements and refuse any claims. In addition, cases are being initiated against victims and relatives for disseminating allegedly fake information about torture.
