ASTANA, December 24 (Itar-Tass) —— Some 16 rioters were arrested in the city of Zhanaozen in the Mangistau Region in western Kazakhstan for the participation in massive riots on Kazakhstan’s Independence Day, Chairman of the appeal penal in the Court of the Mangistau Region Nurserik Sharipov said on Saturday.
“The courts in the Mangistau Region issued arrest warrants against 16 people for the participation in massive riots under Article 241 Part 2 of the Kazakh Criminal Code,” Sharipov said, elaborating that the investigation continues.
Sharipov also stated about administrative offences, particularly petty hooliganism. The rioters detained in Zhanaozen and at the railway station Shetpe were brought to justice under this article of the Criminal Code for the disobedience to lawful demands of the law enforcement agencies. The violations of the curfew in Zhanaozen were also reported. “Some people were unaware how they should behave during the curfew,” Sharipov elaborated.
Some 16 people were killed, including 15 people in Zhanaozen and another one at the railway station Shetpe as a result of massive disorders with the participation of workers earlier fired from the oil producing plants over strikes. The actions of the criminal group, which blocked the traffic on passenger and cargo trains and staged lootings in the settlement, resulted in the use of weapons by the law enforcers.
Over 60 people are undergoing treatment at the hospitals, another 35 people are being treated at the outpatient clinics from 97 people injured in the massive riots in Zhanaozen. Six people are being cured at the hospital in Shetpe, five of them are being treated at outpatient clinics. The disturbances were also reported in Aktau, but the situation was kept under control by the law enforcement agencies and the military forces.