Russian Separatism
In November 1999 the KNB arrested 22 people, 12 of whom were Russian citizens, in Öskemen for planning to overthrow the government and seized rifle catridges and petrol bombs. On 8 June 2000 the Öskemen court sentenced 13 people, 11 Russians and 2 Kazakhs, convicted of planning to overthrow the local government and of illegal possession of weapons. The court sentenced the leader of the group, Vladimir Kazimirchuk, to 18-years imprisonment. Kazimirchuk allegedly planned to create an independent nation for ethnic Russians in eastern Kazakhstan.
Alexander Shushannikov, a member of Ust-Kamenogorsk municipal council, criticized the sentencing, saying the men were not sentenced for "concrete actions. Their guilt was just their intentions." He called it a "show trial."
Read more about this topic: Terrorism In Kazakhstan
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