An estimated 10,000 people are currently in custody following the riots. “We understand that the Home Office has announced that around 9,900 people are in custody as of January 11. Now this is clearly a huge number,” OHCHR Spokesperson Liz Throssell, briefing reporters at the United Nations in Geneva (UNOG).
“Under international law, people have the right to protest peacefully and to express their opinions. And they shouldn’t be detained just for expressing their opinion,” Ms. Throssell said. more.
“All those arrested and detained solely for exercising these rights should be released immediately,” she added.
She said the damage and devastation around the country’s largest city of Almaty had been widely witnessed and reported, and although the United Nations did not explicitly analyze who was being detained, “clearly It is clear that a number of people have been arrested and potentially charged, an OHCHR spokesperson said.
She added that “at the same time, of course, we must also clearly emphasize that there were also armed individuals who took to the streets in Almaty and other parts of Kazakhstan.”
Valid process
Ms. Throssell stressed that all detainees must have access to a lawyer, as part of their basic human rights.
“It is very important for us that the Kazakhstan ombudsman can fulfill his duties in relation to the so-called national prevention mechanism, and in relation to torture, by visiting places detention,” she said.
According to news agencies, the protests began on Sunday when the government raised the ceiling on the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a popular fuel for cars and heating systems – although the increase has since been scrapped. reverse. The unrest appears to be spreading quickly and includes long-standing political grievances.
The state of emergency declared in some regions of Kazakhstan on January 5 (including the main city Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan) has been extended to the whole country.
A week after the start of the riots that rocked the country, calm is slowly returning to Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan. A day of national mourning is being held on Tuesday, while telephone, Internet and public transport networks are gradually being restored, OHCHR said.
Command ‘Lethal Force’
Meanwhile, independent UN human rights experts on Tuesday, call The Kazakh government and security forces “stop the use of unrestrained force, including lethal force” against protesters and call for independent human rights and investigations into the Government’s use of weapons. force in recent days to quell the protests.
In a statement, Dong Nhan Quyen AssociationAppointed experts say they are deeply concerned that the President of Kazakhstan is said to have ordered the security forces and the army to “open fire with lethal force” against the protesters he described as “bandits and terrorists”.
Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, who made an official visit to Kazakhstan in May 2019 – including Aktau and Almaty – both areas where the protests took place. – says that Kazakhstan’s over-the-top use of the word “terrorist” in this context is aimed at protesters, civil society activists, human rights defenders, journalists and parties politics, seemingly aimed at instilling fear and causing deep concern.
Her comments were endorsed by several other independent UN experts.
Wrongly applied ‘terrorist’ fee
They warn against using the term inaccurate, pompous and too broad, noting that such use is inconsistent with international law and undermines the human rights of all. in Kazakhstan.
The statement continued to misuse the word “terror” which undermines the security of all and “undercuts” the term, which has a specific meaning in international law.
Experts stressed that the term should not be used “to silence those who disagree with the Government, who are protesting about economic and social conditions, and expressing political views.” .
They added that acts of violence should be dealt with appropriately under Kazakhstan’s comprehensive penal code, which is “fully equipped to deal with such acts. The Government must protect the lawful exercise of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, assembly and peaceful association, they said.
Expanding the label of protesters as terrorists is one way to use Kazakhstan’s overly broad anti-terror law that authorizes the use of force, including a ‘shoot to kill’ policy, the experts said. against any individual identified as a ‘terrorist’. .
“Such large barriers to freedom of expression and assembly are erected in the face of terrorism in complete contravention of the strict provisions of international human rights law on the right to life.”
Experts reiterate that the use of lethal force is used only in self-defense and when all other means have been exhausted, including nonlethal force. They emphasize that these principles are also applicable to foreign forces operating on the territory of Kazakhstan with its consent.
