In this composition by the artist Saule Souleïmenova, we recognize the imposing Soviet buildings of the Republic Square and the column built to celebrate the independence of Kazakhstan in 1991.
The work, which covers an entire wall, is made up of multiple pieces of plastic. Those of red color are covered with a glittering varnish.
“With this color, I wanted to express our state of mind since the beginning of the year,” Saule Souleïmenova, 52, told AFP.
In early January, protests in Kazakhstan over rising fuel prices escalated in Almaty into clashes between police and demonstrators. Result: 238 dead and hundreds injured.
The government has been accused of firing indiscriminately into crowds and torturing many people arrested during the unrest. Against the backdrop of rivalries between clans in power, the president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, claims to have foiled a “terrorist” coup.
This violence has shattered the image of stability in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic that has long taken advantage of its large hydrocarbon reserves to buy social peace, while crushing political opposition.
Since the “bloody January”, a feeling of injustice and questions remain. Saule Souleïmenova explains that this collective malaise has been reinforced since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the great traditional ally of Kazakhstan.
– “They were hitting our wounds” –
On January 5, Akyljan Kiysimbayev was protecting a building in the center of Almaty from looting when stray bullets began to pierce the windows of the building.
Hit in the leg, he was operated on and the police arrested him in his hospital bed, then, he says, beat him in the corridors of the hospital and in prison.
“They were hitting on our wounds,” the 34-year-old metalworker told AFP. “They told us: You are terrorists!”.
Wearing only his underwear, he was brought before a judge and remanded in custody. A mobilization allowed his release at the end of January. But he is still being prosecuted for participation in “riots” and faces eight years in prison.
The authorities acknowledged cases of torture, some resulting in death. More than 240 investigations have been opened, but they are not progressing. None of the policemen suspected of having tortured Akyljan Kiysimbayev have been prosecuted.
President Tokayev is trying to turn the page and has called for the founding of a “New Kazakhstan”. In June, he passed constitutional amendments that reduced the influence of the clan of his predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev, 82.
Rouslan Rafikov, a Kazakh artist, believes that the violence will return if the authorities do not improve the standard of living and continue the repressions.
“Citizen activism has not disappeared (…) On the contrary, it is getting stronger,” Rafikov, 46, told AFP, wearing a T-shirt with a message of support for Ukraine.
– Russia, a “toxic partner” –
Uncertainty also remains on the foreign scene. During the January violence, Moscow sent military personnel to Kazakhstan to support Mr. Tokayev.
A month later, Kremlin troops set out to conquer Ukraine.
Despite his debt to Moscow, President Tokayev refused to support the invasion, while a large Russian community lives in northern Kazakhstan, raising fears of the return of Russian imperial ambitions in these territories.
In an unusual scene, during a June exchange with Vladimir Putin during an economic forum in Saint Petersburg, Mr. Tokayev said that he would not recognize the independence of the pro-Russian separatist territories in eastern Ukraine.
During this exchange, Mr. Putin repeatedly mispronounced the first name of the Kazakh president. Some observers saw it as a technique of destabilization.
Kazakh diplomacy has promised to ban entry into its territory to Russian presenter Tigran Keossaïan, who in April accused the Kazakhs of “ingratitude” and hinted at an invasion of the country by Moscow.
For political scientist Dossym Satpayev, “Tokayev understands that Russia is a toxic partner”.
