Members of the European Parliament during the plenary session, by a majority vote, adopted a resolution on the situation with the protection of human rights in Kazakhstan in connection with recent protests and riots. It is reported on the site EP on Thursday, January 20th, reports Perlid.
The document was supported by 589 MEPs out of 671 who voted, 35 voted against, 47 abstained.
In a resolution, the European Parliament called on the EU Council to “impose personal sanctions against high-ranking Kazakh officials responsible for serious human rights violations committed during the January 2022 protests.”
The MEPs also called on the EU and the international community to “immediately initiate an appropriate international investigation into the crimes committed against the people of Kazakhstan during the two weeks of rallies in the country.” In particular, the resolution states that it is necessary to investigate “disappearances, reports of torture, arbitrary detentions, killings by snipers, injuries of peaceful demonstrators, including minors, in Almaty and other settlements of Kazakhstan.”
The document also invites the EU institutions “to prioritize the observance of human rights in cooperation with Kazakhstan.”
MEPs believe that the EU foreign policy service should be more actively involved in resolving the situation in Kazakhstan, “including through visits to Kazakhstan by the EU’s highest representative for foreign policy (Josep Borrell – ed.) or the EU Special Representative for Central Asia.”
The EP calls on the Kazakh authorities to invite UN and OSCE experts to assess the situation on the ground, as well as “stop the political persecution of human rights defenders, drop politically motivated charges, immediately release unjustified demonstrators and activists, and guarantee the right to peaceful protest in accordance with international standards.”
Recall, according to official data in Kazakhstan, 225 people died during mass protests. 4,578 people are considered victims.
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