A cousin of the jailed former head of Kazakhstan's Committee of National Security (KNB) has been detained while allegedly trying to cross the border into Russia using forged documents.
The Anti-Corruption Agency said on July 13 that Nurlan Masimov, 48, who served as police chief of the northern Pavlodar region before the January protests that turned violent and left more than 230 people dead, was detained on suspicion of bribe-taking.
The agency said earlier in April that it had added Masimov to its wanted list.
Nurlan Masimov's cousin, Karim Masimov, a close ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, was arrested after the January unrest along with three of his KNB deputies on charges of high treason.
The protests in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen in early January over a sudden fuel-price hike spread across Kazakhstan and led to violent clashes in Almaty and elsewhere.
The protesters' economic discontent was quickly followed by broader demands against corruption, political stagnation, and widespread injustice.
Much of their anger appeared directed at Nazarbaev, who ruled Kazakhstan from 1989 until March 2019, when he handed power to Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev. However, Nazarbaev was widely believed to remain in control behind the scenes.
Since the protests, Toqaev has swept out many figures seen as loyal to Nazarbaev, as well as those who were seen as failing to contain the violence.
Kazakh officials said 232 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed during the unrest across the country.
Human rights groups insist that the number may be much higher as scores of people remain missing, presenting proof that many peaceful demonstrators and people who had nothing to do with the protests were killed by police and military personnel following Toqaev's "shoot-to-kill-without-warning" order.