A farewell ceremony was held in Aktau with a cadet of the KNB Border Service Academy Meyirkhan Bitim, who died during the riots in Almaty. This was reported on January 10 by the “Sputnik Kazakhstan” edition in the Telegram channel.
It is noted that the deceased was only 19 years old.
The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev ordered to posthumously award Bitim with the Aibyn Order of the III degree (the Order of Valor in Kazakhstan, which is awarded, in particular, to servicemen of the Armed Forces, other troops and military formations).
On Sunday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic reported that 16 police officers, the National Guard and the Ministry of Defense were killed during the riots, and over 1.3 thousand were injured. Tokayev signed a decree posthumously rewarding all the dead law enforcement officers for courage.
In total, according to Sputnik Kazakhstan, 164 people, including three children, were killed in the country during the riots. However, the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan did not confirm information about such a number of deaths during the riots.
Protests in Kazakhstan began on January 2. Participants of the rallies opposed the rise in prices for liquefied gas. The actions soon escalated into riots. The situation has become especially aggravated in the largest city of the country – Alma-Ata. The protesters broke into the administration building, set fire to the building of the prosecutor’s office and the office of the ruling party. Violators of law and order armed themselves and began to loot, destroying shops, pharmacies and banks in the city. The criminals ransacked the offices of five TV channels, tried to attack the pre-trial detention center and attempted to enter the territory of a military unit in the Aktobe region.
Tokayev noted that the seized government offices are terrorist groups. He stressed that the bandits who caused the riots had received serious training abroad. The presidential administration of the country specified that among the militants operating in Alma-Ata there were snipers with special rifles.
Two of the 16 killed security officials were beheaded. There is information about attacks on doctors. As indicated in the commandant’s office of Alma-Ata, the brutal actions of the attackers testify to the terrorist and extremist nature of the bandit formations.
On January 5, Tokayev dismissed the government, headed the Security Council and announced at its meeting that he had applied to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO, which includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan) for help in overcoming the terrorist threat. Peacekeepers were sent to the republic for a limited period of time. Thus, the Il-76 and An-124 planes with Russian peacekeepers and equipment arrived in Kazakhstan. Also, Belarusian peacekeepers arrived in the country, as well as peacekeepers from Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Tajikistan.
The CSTO forces help Kazakhstani law enforcement officers to ensure the safety of life support facilities, social infrastructure, and airports.
