Schangaöse massacre

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The Shangaosen massacre took place during the weekend of December 16 and 17, 2011 in western Kazakhstan , in the Mangghystau region. At least 14 demonstrators were killed by the police in the oil industry-dominated city of Shangaosen during protests on Kazakhstan's Independence Day, with the uprising spreading to other cities in the area. The massacre was the first violent crackdown on demonstrations since Kazakhstan's independence and severely damaged the country's international image. It was considered to be an example of the human rights situation in the country under President Nursultan Nazarbayev .

Starting point in Schangaösen

Schangaösen was perceived as "a city with only one industry [...], focused on the aging Ösen oil field". There were great social inequalities. While managers and foreign professionals received high wages, many oil workers in the Mangghystau area were at risk of poverty because of low wages. The workers felt disadvantaged because, unlike the comparatively wealthy cities of Almaty and Astana, they did not benefit from the economic returns of the oil industry and lived in difficult living conditions, but were responsible for almost 70% of the country's oil production.

On May 26, 2011, workers in the oil field went on strike for the payment of hazard surcharges, higher wages and better working conditions. The strike was ruled illegal by local courts and the state oil company KazMunayGas sacked nearly 1,000 of its employees. Some of the laid-off workers then started a round-the-clock occupation of the town square as a protest, demanding greater representation within the union and recognition of workers' rights. The protests went on for months without official intervention. According to Radio Free Europe , the protests broadened "because the demonstrators were upset that the government was placing a stranglehold on wage negotiations and workers' rights." In mid-December, some workers in the town square began to promote the right to form independent political parties without government influence demand.

December 16, 2011

On December 16, protesters clashed with police trying to break up the demonstration in the town square in preparation for the Independence Day celebrations. While activists said the police had started shooting at unarmed demonstrators, state authorities said "bandits" had mixed with the demonstrators and the riots had started. The authorities published a video that should support this version.

The number of deaths is controversial. According to government figures, eleven people were killed, while opposition sources give figures of several dozen dead. Prosecutor Asqat Dauylbayev said that "civilians who had gathered in the main square to celebrate the country's 20th anniversary of independence were attacked by a group of rioters". The opposition Kazakhstani television station K-Plus showed the beginnings of the riots when men pretending to be oil workers ran onto the stage, pushed away the speakers and harassed civilians before the police arrived. In the riots that followed, local authorities, a hotel and an office of the state oil company were set on fire, according to Dauylbaev. According to the authorities, 68 people were injured in the unrest. Due to a shortage of hospital beds in Zhanaozen many people were in the 150 km distant Aktau brought to be treated to there.

Reports from victims and witnesses

Witnesses reported that the police "hailed bullets at people." One witness said: “Usually you only see rows of soldiers with their weapons ready to fire in movies [...] When you see this up close, it's a completely different experience. Especially when what you see are OMON police officers, all in black gear, building a barricade and hitting their signs with clubs. "

Reactions

Protesters in San Francisco (USA) on December 18, 2011 while protesting against the Kazakh government's response to the uprisings

On the night of December 16, Almaty police arrested opposition activists who were protesting the deaths in Shangaosen.

Workers in the Kalamka and Karashanba oil fields went on strike in response to the events in Shangaosen.

On December 17, a group of men blocked and demolished a railway line in the village of Schetpe near Aktau . Unrest has also been reported in other cities in the oblast.

President Nazarbayev visited the Mangghystau area a few days after the unrest broke out. On December 22nd, while he was in Aktau , he said that he would fire his son-in-law Timur Qulybayev for dealing with the situation. Qulybayev was chairman of Samruk-Kazyna , Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund , which manages several state assets, including the energy company KazMunayGas.

Nazarbayev fired several local officials for their roles in the massacre. Police officers held responsible for shooting protesters have been arrested. The head of government of the Mangghystau region, Qyrymbek Kozherbaev , stepped down and Nazarbayev replaced him with a former interior minister. Nazarbayev also dismissed Bolat Aksholaqov as chairman of KazMunayGas. On December 26, he also kept his promise to release Kulibayev. Nazarbayev also issued a 20-day curfew and state of emergency for Shangaosen.

Investigations

On January 9, 2012, it was reported that six Kazakh state organs, "including the Public Committee, a state organ made up of representatives of civil society and civil servants, and several other organs set up by the authorities," were investigating the Shangaosen massacre. Kazakh authorities said they asked the UN to participate in the investigation, but a spokesman for the Secretary-General's office said the UNHCHR was not invited to investigate.

A trial of demonstrators began in Aktau in May 2012. Several defendants complained that they were physically ill-treated or even tortured while in police custody and during interrogation. Some witnesses said they had been threatened by the police in order to provide false testimony. Several representatives of the Kazakh opposition were arrested in connection with the demonstrations, including journalist Shanbolat Mamai, politicians Serik Sapargali and Vladimir Kozlov, and theater director Bolat Atabaev . Human Rights Watch protested the arrests: “If the Kazakh authorities can prove that these political activists were involved in the violence in Shangaosen, they would not use such vague and undefined allegations to arrest them. [...] The charge of "causing social unrest" should be dropped immediately and those against whom there is no evidence of a violent act should be released immediately from custody. "The freedom of the press organization ARTICLE 19 described the charges as" flimsy " and "alarming", warning that the arrest of Atabaev and others "has a deterrent effect on freedom of expression in Kazakhstan". Amnesty International described the charges against Atabaev as fabricated and described him as a prisoner of conscience, "detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression".

Two more negotiations by security officials are currently taking place. In one, five police officers are charged with shooting demonstrators. In the other, the former head of the Shangaosen detention center is charged in connection with the death of a suspect who was allegedly beaten to death.

Representation in the media

Naubet Bissenov examined the differences in the portrayal of the conflict between the pro -government newspapers Kazakhstan Pravda and Karawan and the opposition Golos Respubliki and Vsgljad . The pro-government newspapers blamed the demonstrators and the opposition for the conflict, while the opposition newspapers involved both sides in portraying the conflict. While pro-government newspapers barely reported the cause of the conflict, pro-opposition newspapers perceived the failure of the government and KazMunayGas to adequately respond to demands for better working conditions as the cause of the conflict.

The Kazakh singer Bavyrjan published a song in which he criticized President Nazarbayev for not listening to the complaints of workers demonstrating in Shangaosen. The song was banned by the government. In July 2015 the Kazakh-Russian band Nazarbayev Terror Machine released their first album “Zhanaozen”, which is dedicated to the massacre.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave Nazarbayev advice on harm reduction and helped him formulate an answer that was later circulated in Western media.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Macedonia, Kazakhstan: Triumphal Arches to Celebrate 20 Years of Independence. Global Voices Online, March 18, 2012, accessed June 23, 2012 .
  2. ↑ James Kilner: Ten die in fighting between police and demonstrators in Kazakhstan . In: The Daily Telegraph , December 16, 2011. 
  3. ^ A b Naubet Bissenov: Pro-government and Pro-opposition Newspaper Coverage of the Zhanaozen Conflict in Kazakhstan. Master thesis . 2013, p. III, 78 ( ohiolink.edu [accessed May 8, 2016]).
  4. ↑ Kazakhstan: Crackdown on human rights. In: Amnesty International Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review, October – November 2014. Amnesty International , accessed on August 24, 2014 .
  5. ^ Thicker than oil . In: The Economist , December 31, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2013. 
  6. ↑ a b Dossym Satpayeva, Tolganay Umbetaliyevab: The protests in Zhanaozen and the Kazakh oil sector: Conflicting interests in a rentier state . In: Journal of Eurasian Studies . tape 6 , no. 2 , 2015, p. 122–129 ( sciencedirect.com [accessed May 8, 2016]).
  7. ↑ a b A Year After Deadly Riots, Zhanaozen Is Quiet But Angry. Retrieved December 16, 2012 .
  8. ↑ a b c d e Demytrie, Rayhan and Shodiyor Eshaev: Abuse claims swamp Kazakh oil riot trial , BBC News. May 15, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2012. 
  9. ↑ Zhanaozen - NHC Concerned with crack-down on independent voices one year after. Retrieved July 21, 2012 .
  10. ↑ a b Andrew Kramer: At Least 10 Die as Police Clash With Strikers in Kazakhstan . December 16, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2011. 
  11. ↑ a b c Kazakh oil strike: 10 dead in Zhanaozen clashes. BBC News, December 16, 2011, accessed June 23, 2012 .
  12. ↑ a b Kazakhstan curfew on oil town Zhanaozen after fatal clashes , BBC News. December 17, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2012. 
  13. ↑ Sania Tolken: A Year After Deadly Riots, Zhanaozen Is Quiet But Angry. In: Radio Free Europe. Retrieved July 28, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Kilmer, James: State of emergency declared in town in western Kazakhstan after riots . In: The Telegraph , December 17, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2012. 
  15. ↑ Bloody attack has not defeated striking workers. Socialist World, December 17, 2011, accessed June 23, 2012 .
  16. ↑ Police fire on rioters in tense western Kazakhstan . Retrieved June 23, 2012. 
  17. ^ Kazakhstan protests spread to regional capital. France 24, December 18, 2011, accessed June 23, 2012 .
  18. ↑ Unrest in Kazakhstan . In: The Economist , December 31, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2013. 
  19. ↑ Kazakhstan. In: Human Rights Watch. Retrieved August 4, 2013 .
  20. ↑ Kazakh Investigator Decries Lack Of Access To Zhanaozen Residents. In: Radio Free Europe. Retrieved August 4, 2013 .
  21. ↑ Margarita Assenova: Kazakh riot trials spread punishment. In: Asia Times Online. June 8, 2012, accessed June 23, 2012 .
  22. ^ Kazakhstan: Opposition Activists Arrested. Human Rights Watch, January 25, 2012, accessed June 23, 2012 .
  23. ↑ Kazakhstan: Activists arrested on charges of inciting hatred. ARTICLE 19, June 15, 2012, accessed on June 23, 2012 (English).
  24. ↑ Kazakhstan: Public figure on trail for defending strikers: Bolat Atabaev. Amnesty International, June 21, 2012, accessed June 23, 2012 .
  25. ↑ Robert Mendick: Tony Blair gives Kazakhstan's autocratic president tips on how to defend a massacre . In: telegraph.co.uk , August 24, 2014.