Former Kazakh Banker Says Called On Protesters To Occupy Administrative Buildings

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2022) Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former Kazakh banker who has fled to France, told Sputnik that during the mass riots in Kazakhstan he was calling on protesters to occupy administrative buildings.

According to the Kazakh government, more than 50 state and 1,300 business facilities were damaged during the unrest earlier this month. The mayor's office was burned down in Almaty. In addition, hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities were attacked.

"We called for occupying administrative buildings (in Kazakhstan)," Ablyazov told Sputnik, specifying that he meant "filling" the buildings, "not crashing, breaking and taking over."

Earlier, Ablyazov said that there was a coordination center located in Kiev that was used to direct the actions of protesters in Kazakhstan, in accordance with a certain "algorithm" developed by the opposition.

The "algorithm" requires the protesters to act in a coordinated manner, "not to allow the authorities to engage in provocations," but it also involves the seizure of administrative buildings, the fugitive banker said.

Ablyazov insisted that the riots that occurred in Kazakhstan, leading to the death of over 200 people, were not a coup attempt.

Earlier this month, Director of the Kazakh Institute of World Economy and politics Yerzhan Saltybaev said that the influence on the protests of Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former banker and government minister who has claimed to be the leader of the Kazakh opposition movement, is very limited despite his significant financial resources.

Ablyazov was sentenced in absentia in Kazakhstan for murder and embezzlement. He has been residing abroad for many years.