Kazakhstan's former intelligence chief Karim Masimov, former prime minister and longtime ally of former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, was arrested on charges of high treason.
The news was reported by the same security agency that had torpedoed him while unprecedented protests and violence raged in the country.
Masimov's arrest is the first step taken against a senior official of the former Soviet republic of Central Asia in the ongoing crisis. The National Security Committee (KNB) specified in a note that the arrest took place last Thursday.
Meanwhile, former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is in the Kazakh capital, supports the government of repression and solicits popular support: his press officer has denied the rumors of his removal from the country.
Spokesman Aidos Ukibay said on Twitter that Nazarbayev would be in "direct contact" with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev whom the former president himself chose as his successor after his resignation in 2019.
Nazarbayev - said the spokesman - "invites everyone to gather around the president of Kazakhstan to overcome the current challenge and guarantee the integrity of the country".
The 81-year-old former Kazakh leader has never been seen in public since the protests began. Much of the anger, moreover, seemed to be directed at Nazarbayev himself, who had ruled the country with an iron fist since 1989, before formally giving up power. Two days ago a statue of him was shot down by demonstrators.
(Unioneonline / L)
