ASTANA – A specialized inter-district court for criminal cases in Astana has sentenced former National Security Committee Chair Karim Massimov to 18 years in prison on April 24 on charges of high treason, abuse of power, and actions aimed at violently seizing power, reported the court’s press service.
Karim Massimov. Photo credit: inform.kz
Massimov, 57, was dismissed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Jan. 5, 2022, and arrested three days later on treason charges along with his former deputies Anuar Sadykulov, Daulet Yergozhin and Marat Osipov following nationwide unrest in January 2022.
A classified investigation has been underway since then, said Kazakh Prosecutor General Berik Asylov, noting that the unrest, in what the government has named as an attempted coup, was planned throughout 2021.
Sadykulov, Yergozhin and Osipov were sentenced to 16, 15, and three years at the same behind the doors trial.
The court also seized Massimov’s property, stripped all the culprits of general and state awards, and barred them from ever holding public office again.
The court’s press service also stated ten billion tenge (US$21.9 million) and $24 million had been recovered. The verdict has yet to take effect.
