President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that 26 people received real sentences after the January events when there was an attempted coup d'etat.

His remarks came during an interview with the television channel Russia 24.

Tokayev also noted that the rioters were released, thus the Kazakh authorities show "mercy."

According to the head of state, the coup attempt was "a well-staged action”; the attack on Almaty was very sophisticated torture. Tokayev noted that more than 3,000 weapons were stolen at the time, more than half of which are still in the hands of the instigators of the protests.

Earlier, Kazakhstani Prosecutor General Berik Asylov said that 331 people had been convicted in the January mass protests case.