Thirty-seven people accused of rioting in a Kazakh oil town went on trial in an overcrowded, makeshift courtroom on Tuesday where authorities will seek to restore the oil-producing Central Asian state's reputation for stability after deadly unrest.
The defendants stand accused of participating in clashes in December that killed at least 14 people and saw police use live rounds in the remote oil town of Zhanaozen, violence that posed the most serious challenge to President Nursultan Nazarbayev in his more than two decades of rule.
The accused, mostly young men, were led into the courtroom handcuffed in pairs to applause from relatives who were crammed into a converted youth centre in the Caspian port city of Aktau, where the smell of fresh paint still lingered. "Authorities want this to be an open and transparent process and want all concerned to be able to follow the proceedings," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Roman Vassilenko. "We appreciate this is an emotive moment, but we call for calm as it is important due process is allowed to be followed."
The riots erupted on the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union and followed a months-long protest by local oil workers fired after going on strike in an attempt to win higher wages for their work on the salty steppe. Many residents of Zhanaozen and Aktau, the regional capital 145 km (95 miles) to the west, say authorities were culpable for their failure to address the strikers' grievances. . They also question why police opened fire.
The authorities say police were forced to resort to lethal force on December 16 after being attacked by violent protesters, including sacked oil workers. Under scrutiny from the West and rights bodies, they have pledged to hold a fair investigation.