After Kazakhstan Unrest, Relatives Await Detainees’ Release

After Kazakhstan Unrest, Relatives Await Detainees’ Release
Russian peacekeepers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization guard an area in Kazakhstan, on Jan. 12, 2022. Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
The Associated Press
Updated:

ALMATY, Kazakhstan—With about 12,000 people arrested after anti-government protests in Kazakhstan last week, friends and relatives of those held by police waited outside a jail Wednesday, hoping to learn their fate. Some even went to morgues to see if a loved one was among the scores killed in the unprecedented violence in the Central Asian nation.

Authorities have refused to allow relatives or lawyers to see those in custody, giving little information about them, according to human rights activists.