Kazakhstan: Authorities are trying to cover up the number of victims by burying bodies in the steppe
Authorities are trying to cover up the number of victims by burying bodies in the steppe
Workers activists are concerned that the authorities may be concealing
the bodies of fallen comrades and innocent civilians, as had happened
during the events of 1989. Then troops of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs also shot civilians and hid the bodies in secret locations.
Already then Nazarbaev was in power in the country, a member of the
Central Committee of the Kazakhstan Communist Party, and oversaw the
suppression of social unrest. Today history repeats itself; only this
time the oil workers under strike and local civilians have become the
victims. Now the main task of the newly formed Commission of
Independent Unions and the opposition is not to allow the cover up of
the true scale of the atrocities by the hands of the authorities.
How about the real number of victims? As of today (December 21st 2011,
our note) there are serious grounds for concerns, as only in Zhanoezen
hundreds of people are considered missing. These cannot be located by
their relatives in hospitals, morgues, jails and police stations. The
bodies of those who are known to have died in hospitals because of
injuries are not given to the relatives; this can also be considered as
an insult to those families, the majority of which observe Muslim
traditions. Reports about fatalities, the injured and people missing
continue to arrive from the village of Shetpe, where during the night
of the 17th to the 18th workers and troops clashed. In the mean time
original reports about 70 fatalities have been confirmed by the mass
media, witnesses among the local workers, villagers and relatives.
During the evening of December 18th an activist from the Mangistaus
region, K. Sholpan, was able to give us a call. She reported that about
forty people with severe injuries from firearms are still in hospital.
This number does not include people injured who have been released from
hospital. That day her husband was supposed to undergo surgery to
extract a bullet from a Kalashnikov stuck in his belly. During the
course of December 16th and 17th the injured were taken to the
regional hospital, which is located 120 kilometers away from the
location where the violence took place. It was then when the local
hospital and all medical establishments of Zhanaozen were overwhelmed
by the injured, running out of medicines and other basic means to treat
injuries.
According to her during the first half an hour of clashes in Zhanaozen
22 people were killed, one person died in the way to the hospital in
Aktau, three young lads and a young female died of gunshot wounds near
a supermarket. Three young workers and the mother of an oil worker died
in her arms. Also an 11-year-old girl, whose head was severely damaged
by a bullet was lying lifeless. Towards the evening of December 16th,
when marines and troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered the
area with heavy armour the number of victims had reached 70. The police
and the military even shot people who did not participate in the
protests. Workers and relatives moved a large fraction of the bodies
from the central areas of the city to the outskirts when the shooting
started.
During the evening of December 16th and all night of December 17th
shooting spread to the suburbs and residential areas of Zhanaozen,
where young workers tried to resist government troops. At that time the
number of fatalities surpassed 100 people. Many people among those who
participated in the clashes are missing. A Commission has been formed
of representatives of the local independent workers union
«Aktau», of representatives of opposition parties and
social organisations. This Commission intends to collect data regarding
the number of fatalities, missing, injured people and those who are
currently under arrest. Relatives are planned to get together to
compile a list of individuals affected by the violence. However, the
authorities do not allow funerals. This raises serious concerns that
the authorities are hiding the bodies of missing people.
Journalists of the independent and foreign press, civil rights
advocates, members of the workers’ committee of oil workers and the
union «Aktau» are putting together all available data,
statements of witnesses, photographs, videos. There is a significant
risk that members of the leadership of the independent union and
activists of the Commission may become targets, since in the cities of
Zhanaozen, Shetp and Zhetybae workers and individuals who participated
in the gatherings and demonstrations are being arrested massively. We
will continue to oversee the situation and to convey it as widely as we
can both in our country and internationally.
Press Service of the Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan. Circulated by ‘Proletarskaya Gazeta’, December 21st 2011.
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