Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has agreed with the presidential commission on clemencies to reject a pardon request filed by Karim Masimov, a once-powerful politician who was prime minister twice and is now serving 18 years in prison on charges of high treason and attempting to seize power during unrest in 2022, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported.
The Informburo.kz website said on July 23 that it received a statement from the presidential administration saying that Tokayev’s final decision had been delivered to Masimov.
Masimov officially asked Tokayev for clemency in March.
Last month, the presidential commission on clemencies said that it had decided to reject Masimov’s request and recommended Tokayev not pardon him.
Officials said at the time that despite the appeal, Masimov still faced charges of bribe taking and money laundering, which were then under investigation.
Masimov, a close ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, was jailed in April 2023 over his role in the deadly events that followed unprecedented anti-government protests in the country in January 2022.
The unrest began in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen over a sudden fuel price hike. But the demonstrations, buffeted by anger over corruption, political stagnation, and widespread injustice, quickly grew.
Much of the protesters’ ire appeared directed at Nazarbaev, who ruled Kazakhstan from 1989 until March 2019, when he handed over power to Tokayev. Masimov was the head of Kazakhstan’s Committee for National Security when the protests took place.
