# Tokayev orders law-enforcement and the army to shoot to kill without warning

Date: 2022

## The fact

On 7 January 2022, in a televised address, [Kassym-Jomart Tokayev](/people/kassym-jomart-tokayev) said he had given the order to law-enforcement and the army to shoot to kill without warning against those he labelled terrorists. Same-day Interior Ministry figures (26 “liquidated,” 18 police dead) were early operational numbers, not the later 238 list. They are not mixed here.

## Context

He is commander-in-chief. Interior troops and the army executed. He dismissed talks with protesters as idiocy.

CSTO 5 January; shoot-to-kill 7 January; 238 list 16 August 2022. Keep the early operational numbers off the 238 row. Keep Tokayev orders law-enforcement and the army to shoot to kill without warning on 2022-01-07 separate from neighbouring succession, CSTO, shoot-to-kill, 238-list, and snap-election instruments.

The president of Kazakhstan is head of state and commander-in-chief. He can declare an emergency, invite a CSTO contingent, and order lethal force. He does not write ODIHR final reports, does not sit as a UNGA teller, and a Prosecutor-General list is not converted here into a unique UCDP integer.

## Evidence and sources

Akorda / Presidency of Kazakhstan carries the official instrument or communique. Associated Press records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [civic space](/drivers/civic-space): a completed lethal-force order. It is not hung on Kronstadt-era [freedom-of-assembly](/drivers/freedom-of-assembly) or on Soviet [state-repression](/drivers/state-repression).

## What is established and what is not

Established: Tokayev ordered shoot to kill without warning in a 7 January 2022 televised address, independently recorded.

Not established: A unique 7 January death integer, or that the later 238 list is this same Fact.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Interior troops and the army executed. AP and Reuters recorded the address.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Tokayev orders law-enforcement and the army to shoot to kill without warning, not a later speech about Tokayev orders law-enforcement and the army to shoot to kill without warning.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Tokayev orders law-enforcement and the army to shoot to kill without warning on 2022-01-07 is not a licence to treat every later Akorda / Presidency of Kazakhstan communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Tokayev orders law-enforcement and the army to shoot to kill without warning into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He ordered. Interior troops and the army executed. AP and Reuters recorded the address. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: https://factrail.ai/people/kassym-jomart-tokayev

## Drivers

- Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space

## Sources

- https://apnews.com/article/kazakhstan-law-enforcement-agencies-6dc8df9639367c3845aa00a008072997
- https://www.akorda.kz/en

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/kz-shoot-to-kill-2022