Kazak Opposition Meeting Attacked

Sunday, 20 November, 2005

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Daur Dosybiev

The Kazak authorities have launched an investigation into a violent attack on a meeting of opposition groups in a Shymkent hotel, apparently by pro-government forces.

The meeting, held by the opposition bloc For a Just Kazakstan on May 2, was disrupted when some 350 young people – mostly men – smashed their way into the Sayakhat hotel.

Brandishing placards reading “You are the shame of the nation”, “We are for [President Nursultan] Nazarbaev” and “Bishkek won’t happen here” – a reference to the March revolution which topped President Askar Akev in Kyrgyzstan – the protestors began shouting at the opposition delegates, accusing them of trying to divide the country. The meeting was being held the day after a Kazak public holiday to celebrate “unity between the peoples of Kazakstan”.

All attempts by movement leader Jarmakhan Tuyakbay - a former general prosecutor and currently the sole opposition figure planning to contest the 2006 presidential election - to calm the situation failed, and the participants in the meeting began to flee after glasses were thrown.

The attack took a surreal turn when one Shymkent opposition activist was assaulted by a man dressed as Elvis Presley, and others were pelted with painted Easter eggs.

Eyewitnesses told IWPR that the anti-opposition activists then began trashing the building by throwing chairs around and overturning tables. A number of assaults were captured on video footage taken by the regional governor’s press secretary.

However, in spite of the damage, no arrests were made at the scene.

At a press conference held after the event, Tuyakbay told the media, “I can’t name one specific person as the main instigator or organiser of this operation - but I am absolutely certain that the authorities are responsible.

“There is a mass of evidence that officers from the regional police departments and National Security Committee were present, including people from [the capital] Astana. This was not a spontaneous protest.”

However, the South Kazakstan regional police department gave a different interpretation of the event, at a briefing organised by deputy police chief Alimkhan Abjanov.

The police claim that the For a Just Kazakstan movement had held an “agitation meeting” in the hotel under the guise of a charitable dinner, and came into conflict with a funeral party which was also using the function space.

But observers say that if this version of events is to be believed, it does not explain the political banners.

The opposition Democratic Forces of Kazakstan have claimed that the incident was in fact an attempt on the life of Tuyakbay, and point out that he was also attacked in the north-eastern area of Ust-Kamenogorsk on April 9.

The earlier incident has not yet been investigated and no charges have been pressed, in spite of what the opposition claims is a wealth of evidence including eyewitness testimony, video footage and photographs of the alleged assault.

In a statement, the opposition group said, “The incidents in Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shymkent show that the cowardly authorities, lacking confidence in their own forces, have moved on from defamation, blackmail and prohibition of their opponents, to using force and terror.”

But on May 5, after a series of calls from the opposition and a request from the president’s own Otan (Homeland) party, Nazarbaev’s press service announced that Prosecutor General Rashid Tusupbekov and the law enforcement agencies would launch “a thorough investigation” into the incident, and would punish the perpetrators accordingly.

Mystery still surrounds who organised the protestors and why. Pro-government youth organisation head Mukhtar Mukhambetjan, a former opposition activist who changed sides some six years ago, was alleged by several eyewitnesses to have been on the scene directing the crowd by megaphone, although he later denied organising the protest.

At a press conference on May 3, he told the media that the protest had been spontaneous and unsanctioned - and that the damage done to the hotel was not the fault of the pro-government people.

“We broke the law, because we knew that they would not let us into the building,” said Mukhambetjan. “We won’t let anyone play with the fate of our people and country.”

A spokesman for the South Kazakstan regional governor’s office refused to comment on the incident, saying only that officials did not intend to get involved in relations between the parties.

But speaking on condition of anonymity, one regional official claimed that the pro-government protestors had indeed been organised by Mukhambetjan, who was once a leader of the local branch of the opposition Republican People’s Party of Kazakstan.

Local pensioner Seytjappar Seidibaev, who was near the hotel when the violence broke out, described the incident as “a disgrace”.

“What are the authorities afraid of?” he asked.

“Today they are capable of winning any election in the country. The opposition could count on wide support six or seven years ago, when the state was obviously in crisis, but nobody wants change now.

“Nothing bad will happen if a few people express their disagreement with the authorities – and in any case, freedom of speech is enshrined in the Kazak constitution.”

Daur Dosybiev is an IWPR correspondent in Shymkent