Kazakh Prosecutor: 'Well Aware' Of Identities Of Child Militants In IS Video

Kazakh Prosecutor: 'Well Aware' Of Identities Of Child Militants In IS Video. (RFELR).

Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prosecutor-General Andrey Kravchenko has said that the country’s intelligence and law-enforcement services have identified the Kazakh children shown in a recent Islamic State group video, RFE/RL’s Kazakh service reports.

The video, which Islamic State released in November, shows a group of Kazakh nationals, including children, undergoing military and ideological training. Titled “Race Toward Good,” the video caused an outcry in Kazakhstan. The Prosecutor-General’s Office said it was taking legal steps to prohibit its distribution and deem it illegal.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Astana on combating religious extremism and terrorism on December 19, Kravchenko said that the Kazakh authorities were “well aware who these children are” and that Astana would “continue our work so that these children are not implicated in any criminal activities.”

Kravchenko said that while he was not able to disclose names, the children “reached [Syria] in various ways and in the main these are children who went their with their families.”

Kravchenko said that Kazakhstan is interacting with Google, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to prevent the spread of such video clips via the Internet.

“We find that the staff of these services have an understanding of our work and they are coming to us for a meeting,” Kravchenko said, adding that Kazakhstan has now blocked around 500 websites.

The ban by Kazakhstan of the “Race Toward Good” video appears to have also affected news outlets in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

In November, a Kyrgyz news portal, Kloop.kg, said that the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry had asked the site to remove a report it posted about the video. The site’s editor, Bektur Iskender, said that Bishkek was punishing Kyrgyz citizens in order to appease Kazakhstan.

On December 16, Kloop.kg’s owners reported that their site had been blocked in Kyrgyzstan after they refused to take down the report on the Islamic State video. -- Joanna Paraszczuk. Read the full story here.