Former head of Kazakhstan’s security committee sentenced to 18 years in treason case

The Astana court sentenced the former head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, Karim Massimov, to 18 years in prison in a case of treason and an attempt to seize power in January 2022. About this reported in the press service of the court of Astana.

In addition to Masimov, three other deputies of the former head of the KNB, Anuar Sadykulov, Daulet Yergozhin and Marat Osipov, were involved in this case. In particular, Sadukulov and Yergozhin were found guilty of forcible seizure of power and abuse of power. In addition, Sadukolov was found guilty of treason. Osipov was found guilty only of abuse of power.

As a result, the court sentenced Sadykulov to 16 years in prison, Yergozhin to 15. Osipov was sentenced to 3 years in prison. All four were also stripped of their ranks of generals and state awards. In addition, more than 10 billion tenge (about 1.78 billion rubles) and $24 billion were collected in state revenue.

Karim Massimov headed the KNB since September 2016. On January 6, 2022, he was removed from his post, and on January 27 – arrested. This happened against the background of mass protests that swept Kazakhstan at the beginning of the year. Then the former Minister of Information and former adviser to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Yermukhamet Yertysbayev, said on the air of the Khabar TV channel that the KNB had for years concealed information about the training camps existing in the country, where protesters were allegedly trained.

Before joining the KNB, Massimov headed the government of Kazakhstan twice, from 2007 to 2012. and from 2014 to 2016 Between terms, he worked as the head of the administration of the country’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Mass protests in Kazakhstan began in early 2022 in the western cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau amid a doubling of LPG prices. Already by January 6, the protests had swept most of the country, their participants began to make political demands, including the resignation of the government.

Due to unrest on the territory of Kazakhstan, a state of emergency was in effect until January 19, 2022, and the CSTO, at the request of the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, sent a peacekeeping contingent to the republic. According to official figures, almost 6,000 people were detained during the riots, and 125 criminal cases were initiated. Amid unrest, Tokayev fired a number of senior Nazarbayev supporters, including Massimov.