On 30 September 2024, IPHR, Kazakh International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR) and the Kazakh Coalition against Torture published a follow-up briefing about the situation of torture survivors from the so-called Bloody January events in 2022.
The organisations are deeply concerned that for over two and a half years the Kazakhstani authorities have rejected calls for an international investigation into the so called “Bloody January 2022 events”, while national-level efforts to investigate these events and the human rights violations perpetrated during them have lacked independence, thoroughness, and effectiveness.
While it is positive that several officials have faced arrest, prosecution, and conviction for abuses, the number of such cases remains disproportionately low compared to the scale of reported violations, with hundreds of complaints of mistreatment filed by protesters detained in January 2022.Moreover, the legal proceedings have been tainted by violations of fair trial and due process rights, and the sentences imposed often do not match the severity of the crimes. There are also concerns about the inadequate compensation provided to victims of abuse and their families.
The briefing is based on a series of follow-up interviews IPHR conducted in July 2024 with torture survivors, who were interviewed in 2022 for IPHR and KIBHR’s joint report “We don’t even cry anymore. Torture, ill-treatment and impunity in Kazakhstan in connection with the Bloody January events. Most of those interviewed reported that the complaints into their allegations of torture had been closed due to a so-called “lack of evidence”, and that they had not received adequate redress nor compensation.
Full report is available down
