Kazakhstan’s ex-national security chief detained for treason

Karim Masimov (XINHUA)

NUR-SULTAN – Karim Masimov, former chairman of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, has been detained on suspicion of high treason, the committee announced Saturday.

Masimov and several others were placed in a temporary detention center on Thursday and the committee has launched a pre-trial investigation, it said in a statement on its website.

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The former senior official was put into custody when violent protests sparked by fuel price hikes rocked Kazakhstan and led to multiple deaths and many injuries.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday that the constitutional order had been largely restored in the Central Asian country after days of stormy riots.  

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