Vodka, Drugs Seen Fueling Soviet Riot
The Kazakhstan Supreme Court has demanded that “adult instigators” and “persons who sold alcoholic beverages or drugs” be revealed in cases pending on the court docket involving juvenile crime, according to an edition of the newspaper Kazakhstan Pravda that reached Moscow on Saturday.
The court order came one week after vodka and narcotics were distributed during riots in the Kazakhstan capital of Alma Ata involving local students, according to Soviet eyewitnesses of the two days of riots.
The riots took place on Dec. 17-18 following the ouster of a longtime Communist Party boss and his replacement with a political figure from another region.
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