Part 4. Democratization.
Correspondent of the newspaper “Radio Liberty”:
– Mr. President, what about those hundreds of people who indiscriminately fell under the repressive punishment machine and are now in pre-trial detention centers? People are tortured and forced to confess. You do understand that in those days there were mostly respectable citizens on the square who came to demand changes, and criminal elements took advantage of them to make a coup?
President Tokayev:
– Yes, I completely agree with you. Civilians who came to the square with legitimate demands should not suffer. Right today I signed a decree on amnesty for all participants of the January events who did not participate in robberies, attacks on police officers and other crimes. Yes, they violated the law currently in force on the procedure for organizing rallies and came to the square illegally. But I believe that citizens of a free democratic state should have the right to express their opinions openly and publicly. Therefore, I initiated a law on liberalizing the procedure for holding rallies. Any citizen, any parties and associations will be able to gather freely, go to the squares of cities with the notification of local authorities and publicly express their opinion on any issues.
Correspondent of the newspaper “Radio Liberty”:
– Mr. President, why do we need a notification nature of statements at all? Why not give full freedom to citizens?
President Tokayev:
– I want to publicly declare to everyone that Kazakhstan will move towards the liberalization of the political system, towards the expansion of the rights and freedoms of citizens. But my task now, as the president of the country, is to prevent too sudden movements and changes that can cause chaos, anarchy and disorder. Because innocent civilians will suffer in this chaos, and, even worse, history teaches us that after chaos, society strives for an iron hand and dictatorship. Therefore, excessive freedom of an unprepared society is dangerous. I see my mission in going carefully, as they say, “without spilling water from a glass,” from one formation to another and leading Kazakhstan to a free, democratic, prosperous, prosperous state without sacrifice. Therefore, the nuts will loosen.
slowly, but surely and steadily. You mentioned the same notifying nature of the rallies. But imagine what would happen if, let’s say, supporters of Russia and supporters of Ukraine set up a rally on the same day and hour. You understand that a conflict between these two groups is inevitable, and it will lead to a clash and bloodshed. Do we really need this?
Correspondent of the newspaper “Zhas Alash”:
– Mr. President, what do you think about not only the participants of the January events, but also other oppositionists who ended up in prison under the Nazarbayev regime for their opposition speeches? What will happen to them?
President Tokayev:
– In relation to them, my position is the same. I believe that there should be opposition in any state and society, there should be different opinions and different views on any issues. And members of the society should be able to express their dissatisfaction with the management and offer their alternative solutions. It will definitely be the same in Kazakhstan, and we will come to this. Therefore, I do not consider the oppositionists to be enemies of the people, I do not consider them my enemies, I consider them patriots who want to improve life in our country, but only in other ways. Therefore, by the same decree this morning I announced that for all prisoners currently in prisons in our country for clearly political reasons, the cases will be reviewed, even if formally they were not imprisoned for political articles. I hope they will be released.
Correspondent of the newspaper “Zhas Alash”:
– Bravo, Mr. President! Allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of the democratic part of society, which has been waiting for this step from you for a long time. We really hope that from now on there will be no more political prisoners in Kazakhstan.
President Tokayev:
– I promise you that.
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