On New Year’s Day, the authoritarian government of the oil-rich nation of Kazakhstan removed the subsidy on fuel prices, sparking countrywide protests not only because of the resulting higher gas prices but also over issues relating to inequality, poverty and corruption. So far, 26 persons have been killed, as the state security sought to quell the protest after a shoot to-kill-order from the President was given. The country was ruled for three decades by Nursultan Nazarbayev who in 2019 handed over the presidency to Qasym-Jomart Tokayev. Nazarbayev, however, remained in the background as “leader of the nation”, a title that grants him and his family immunity from prosecution.
