He sleeps three hours a night. Since the start of the violence in Kazakhstan on Sunday January 2, Moukhtar Abliazov has been living to the rhythm of what he describes as a revolution in his country. The opponent, in exile in France, denounces the violence of the regime which ordered Friday, January 8 to shoot without warning, “shoot to kill” in the words of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The target: these thousands of people demonstrating in the streets, angry at the increase in the price of gas.
>> We explain the crisis in Kazakhstan, shaken by unprecedented violence
The authorities claim that 26 “armed criminals” were killed, and more than a thousand demonstrators injured, while the police report 18 killed in their ranks. A largely underestimated assessment according to Moukhtar Abliazov. “Just when the demonstrators tried to storm the residence of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the snipers shot at around 50 people”, describes the former minister and banker in exile.
“I think there were hundreds of deaths.”
Moukhtar Abliazov, opposant kazakhto franceinfo
On his phone, videos scroll. They show countless body bags lined up in the morgues of two Almaty hospitals. This city, the economic capital of the country, has become the epicenter of anger. Tens of thousands of people have gathered there since the protest against the price hikes began.
But this movement also targets the former autocrat Nazarbayev, who remained very influential in Kazakhstan. He held power for almost 29 years, from the fall of the USSR until 2019. His fortune is said to be at least “$ 200 billion”, selon Moukhtar Abliazov. “The country is poor, while it is extremely rich. People cannot take it any longer, they hate it! He has stolen thirty years of our lives, he has stolen the future of the country. They believe that he must go to jail.”
“The revolution is not over. On the contrary, it is only the beginning”, wants to believe the opponent. He recognizes that there is “less protesters [ces derniers jours], but this is only temporary, because there have been too many deaths. ” Abliazov recalls that this protest movement is unprecedented, by its scope, in the history of the country.
He says he is ready to become Prime Minister of a provisional government, without a president. But he cannot return to Kazakhstan, under penalty of being immediately imprisoned. In 2017, the former oligarch was sentenced in his absence to twenty years in prison, in a case of embezzlement when he ran the BTA bank. The French National Court of Asylum Law considers that the charges against him have a “political motive”.
Abliazov also denounces the appeal launched by the Kazakh authorities to the attention of Moscow, asking Russian soldiers to come and restore order. They started to arrive since Thursday, January 6.
“The Russian intervention is an occupation. We have to fight to liberate the country, so that Putin leaves Kazakhstan.”
Moukhtar Abliazov, opposant kazakhto franceinfo
The Kazakh opponent calls on the European Union to adopt swift sanctions against Russia. Otherwise, he believes, she may never leave again.
Meeting with the Kazakh opponent Moukhtar Abliazov – Marie-Pierre Vérot and Virginie Pironon