APRIL 19 2024 (The Bulletin) — Police in Astana started investigating anonymous threats made against the judge presiding over the trial of former Kazakh economy minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev for the murder of his wife. The Supreme Court said that the threats had been left on the phone of Aizhan Kulbayeva, the judge. Bishimbayev’s trial is perhaps the most high-profile murder trial in Kazakhstan’s history.

ENDS

— This story was published in issue 565 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 23 2024

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024

>> The trial of a former economy minister in Kazakhstan for murdering his wife is a chance to improve the country’s shaming domestic abuse record, says James Kilner

APRIL 15 2024 (The Bulletin) –It’s not just the law’s view of domestic violence in Kazakhstan that has stained the country’s reputation. Attitudes need to change too.

It has taken the heinous murder by Kuandyk Bishimbayev of his wife last year to force Kazakh lawmakers to toughen punishment around domestic violence, but these laws will be no good if they are undermined by a system that doesn’t want women to speak out.

The UN has  demanded change. It said that 62,000 women in Kazakhstan reported abuse last year, although it has also said that the real number of victims is much higher.

Women are not encouraged to speak out in Kazakhstan’s strongly patriarchal society. 

They are expected to accept their beatings and to remain quiet and this means that progress on improving women’s rights is stunted. It’s one thing toughening punishment for men who abuse their wives or children, it is quite another to create a culture where women feel safe enough to speak out.

The case of Bishimbayev is a case in point. 

He is an ugly, corrupt and pathetic man who took his frustrations out on the women in his life by beating them. He hasn’t been convicted yet of the murder of his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, in November at a restaurant owned by a family member – but evidence is mounting. 

CCTV film shows him hitting Nukenova that evening. Her lifeless body lay on the floor of the restaurant for hours while Bishimbayev callously schemed over how to shift blame. 

He ordered the CCTV film to be wiped clean and for a chauffeur to drive Nukenova’s smartphone around Astana in the hope that it would fool people into thinking that she had been alive.

None of it appears to have worked. Bishimbayev’s only hope of avoiding years in prison appears to be pressuring the judge and using his privileged position as a member of the Kazakh elite to push for a light sentence. 

He’s pulled the trick before. In 2027, shortly after resigning as Kazakhstan’s economy minister, he was sent to prison for a decade for corruption but managed to walk free after only three years. 

Now, Kazakhstan has a chance to right these wrongs. It needs to sort out its terrible domestic abuse record, setting an example for the rest of the region, and it needs to imprison Bishimbayev for a long time.

ENDS

— This story was published in issue 564 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 15 2024

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024

>> The trial of a former economy minister in Kazakhstan for murdering his wife is a chance to improve the country’s shaming domestic abuse record, says James Kilner

APRIL 15 2024 (The Bulletin) –It’s not just the law’s view of domestic violence in Kazakhstan that has stained the country’s reputation. Attitudes need to change too.

It has taken the heinous murder by Kuandyk Bishimbayev of his wife last year to force Kazakh lawmakers to toughen punishment around domestic violence, but these laws will be no good if they are undermined by a system that doesn’t want women to speak out.

The UN has  demanded change. It said that 62,000 women in Kazakhstan reported abuse last year, although it has also said that the real number of victims is much higher.

Women are not encouraged to speak out in Kazakhstan’s strongly patriarchal society. 

They are expected to accept their beatings and to remain quiet and this means that progress on improving women’s rights is stunted. It’s one thing toughening punishment for men who abuse their wives or children, it is quite another to create a culture where women feel safe enough to speak out.

The case of Bishimbayev is a case in point. 

He is an ugly, corrupt and pathetic man who took his frustrations out on the women in his life by beating them. He hasn’t been convicted yet of the murder of his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, in November at a restaurant owned by a family member – but evidence is mounting. 

CCTV film shows him hitting Nukenova that evening. Her lifeless body lay on the floor of the restaurant for hours while Bishimbayev callously schemed over how to shift blame. 

He ordered the CCTV film to be wiped clean and for a chauffeur to drive Nukenova’s smartphone around Astana in the hope that it would fool people into thinking that she had been alive.

None of it appears to have worked. Bishimbayev’s only hope of avoiding years in prison appears to be pressuring the judge and using his privileged position as a member of the Kazakh elite to push for a light sentence. 

He’s pulled the trick before. In 2027, shortly after resigning as Kazakhstan’s economy minister, he was sent to prison for a decade for corruption but managed to walk free after only three years. 

Now, Kazakhstan has a chance to right these wrongs. It needs to sort out its terrible domestic abuse record, setting an example for the rest of the region, and it needs to imprison Bishimbayev for a long time.

ENDS

— This story was published in issue 564 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 15 2024

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024