Police officers accused of shooting at a crowd of protesters during unrest in southern Kazakhstan were charged with abuse of office and face up to ten years in prison, a spokesman for the Kazakh prosecutors' office said on Thursday.
Eyewitnesses said police fired on unarmed people during a protest by oil workers in the town of Zhanaozen mid-December, a charge initially denied by the authorities.
An official spokesman of the Kazakh Prosecutor General's Office, Nurdaulet Suindikov, said a criminal case against a number of officers was launched on charges of "abuse of authority and official powers involving the use of weapons or special equipment."
The spokesman did not specify how many officers were charged but said civilian deaths "had no relation to the actions of police officers."
The suspects, if found guilty, will face a prison term of up to ten years and their property will be confiscated. They will also be banned from performing police duties for up to seven years.
The Kazakh Interior Ministry said that 17 police were injured in clashes with protestors; one of them was taken to hospital in a serious condition. A total of 35 police officers sought medical aid on December 16-18.
Meanwhile, a Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters in Astana that the government considered "inviting UN specialists and independent experts from other states to provide an unbiased and thorough investigation of mass riots in Zhanaozen in compliance with national legislation, human rights and international laws concerning mass rioting."
Protests erupted in the oil town of Zhanaozen on December 16 over wage cuts, leaving 17 people dead and dozens injured. Dozens of houses and cars were set on fire.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev declared a state of emergency in the city. A curfew will be in place until January 5. The republic's leadership blamed organized criminal groups with links to outside forces for the unrests.
