SEP. 21 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked Aslan Musin as his chief of staff. In Mr Musin’s place, Mr Nazarbayev promoted the loyal PM Karim Masimov. No official reason was given for the change but many analysts believe that Mr Musin had become too powerful.
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(News report from Issue No. 106, published on Sep. 28 2012)
SEP. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a 153-page report Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Kazakhstan of breaching workers’ rights last year in the run-up to deadly riots on Dec. 16. HRW said the government and energy companies had abused workers’ right to protest. The energy companies refuted the allegations.
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(News report from Issue No. 104, published on Sep. 14 2012)
AUG. 28 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Surprising observers, a court in the southern Kazakh city of Taraz cleared human rights activist Vadim Kuramshin of extortion. Mr Kurashmin had faced 14 years in jail. He said the accusations had been politically motivated. Police arrested him in January during a crackdown against opposition activists.
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(News report from Issue No. 103, published on Aug. 31 2012)
AUG. 17 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police near Almaty killed nine suspected Islamic militants during a dawn raid, the prosecutor- general said. Last month President Nursultan Nazarbayev called on the security forces to do more to hunt down alleged militants after several died when a bomb they were preparing accidentally exploded.
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(News report from Issue No. 102, published on Aug. 24 2012)
AUG. 14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh police launched a murder investigation after discovering 11 bodies hacked to death in a gorge near Almaty, media reported. Amongst the dead were a well-regarded park ranger and his wife. This is the second mass killing in Kazakhstan this year. In May, 14 soldiers were found shot dead in their outpost near the Chinese border.
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(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)
AUG. 17 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At the Olympic Games in London, Kazakhstan wanted to beat their previous best medals haul of three golds from both Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. They did, easily, with seven gold medals in cycling, weightlifting, long jump and boxing.
Kazakhstan was placed twelfth in the rankings, with the same gold medal haul as Australia. For the others, the Games were less successful.
Turkmenistan failed to win a medal and one of its boxing referees was sent home after
failing to stop a one-sided fight. An Uzbek gymnast faced even greater humiliation after she was disqualified for doping. Uzbekistan did win one gold medal in the men’s wrestling. There were no golds for either Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan, although a Tajik woman won a boxing bronze.
Azerbaijan had talked up their boxing hopes before the Games but the best it could manage was a bronze medal. They also had one coach sent home for cheating. In wrestling Azerbaijan won two golds along with another two silver and three bronze medals.
Georgia won its gold medal in judo . Neighbouring Armenia won three medals, but no gold.
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(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)
AUG. 2 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s biggest economy, cut its interest rate to 5.5% to try and stimulate growth. Emerging economies around the world have been fighting stalling inflation with interest rate cuts. This was Kazakhstan’s fourth rate cut in 2012. It comes into effect on Aug. 6.
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(News report from Issue No. 099, published on Aug. 3 2012)
JULY 23 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Kazakhstan arrested an army officer for allegedly shooting two other officers during an argument, media reported. This year attention has focused on bullying within the Kazakh army after the murder of 14 soldiers at a remote outpost in May and, in a separate incident, the mass desertion by conscripts.
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(News report from Issue No. 098, published on July 27 2012)
JULY 11 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The deputy head of Russia’s air force, Major-general Pavel Kurachenko, said Kazakhstan and Russia will sign a deal to integrate their air defence systems before the end of the year, media reported. Russia has been trying to set up an integrated air defence system over the past few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 096, published on July 13 2012)
JUNE 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Kazakhstan reported that prosecutors were to charge several detained opposition activists, including Vladimir Kozlov who heads the banned Alga! party, with plotting a revolution. No official statement has yet been made. A deadly riot in the town of Zhanaozen in December triggered a crackdown by the authorities against the opposition.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)