Former Minister of Economy of Kazakhstan Kuandyk Bishimbayev, previously convicted of bribery, received 24 years for murdering his wife and trying to cover his tracks.

Former Minister of Economy of Kazakhstan Kuandyk Bishimbayev was sentenced to 24 years in prison in the case of the murder of his wife Saltanat Nukenova, reports Zakon.kz. The verdict was handed down by a court in Astana.

In addition to Bishimbayev, the jury also found Bishimbayev's relative Bakhytzhan Baizhanov guilty. He received four years for concealment.

The crime occurred in early November last year at the BAU restaurant in Astana. As Orda reported, Bishimbayev, who was intoxicated, quarreled with his wife and beat her. The cause of death of 31-year-old Saltanat Nukenova was a head injury as a result of multiple blows. According to the investigation, Bishimbayev kicked his wife and also tried to strangle her. The former minister tried to hide traces of the crime. The video recording from the hall was partially deleted, and with the help of Baizhanov, Bishimbayev tried to create an alibi for himself.

A few days later, the ex-minister was detained. He did not admit his guilt and asked to be tried by a jury. At the preliminary hearing, Bishimbayev’s defense argued that his actions “were aimed at calming Saltanat Nukenova,” “the defendant did not have the intent to kill and did not kick Nukenova.”

Later, the investigation was able to gain access to Bishimbayev’s phone. It contained 12 videos taken on the night of the murder inside the VIP booth, on the street and in the car. In the footage, the ex-official insults Nukenova, swears, asks about her relationship before marriage with him and beats her, Kursiv.media wrote. Bishimbayev first claimed that these videos were editing, but later admitted: “Yes, I filmed these videos. I don’t remember, but I see that I was filming.”

The expert report stated that Nukenova had multiple abrasions and bruises on her face, eyelids, scalp and behind the ears, as well as a splinter fracture of the nasal bone. Experts concluded that the woman was hit in the head area about 12-13 times.

Baizhanov headed the Gastrocenter, in whose building there is a restaurant where the murder took place. He claimed that after beating Nukenova he wanted to call an ambulance, to which Bishimbayev, according to him, replied: “She’s sleeping, let’s wait.” At the same time, according to Baizhanov, Bishimbayev called an acquaintance, “either a clairvoyant or a fortune teller,” whom he had often contacted before, and she said: “She’s just sleeping. Everything is fine. Her brain is tired.”

Bishimbayev, who was the Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan for several months in 2016, was already convicted in 2018 in a case of theft during the construction of a plant in Kyzylorda and bribes. […]

The murder case of Saltanat Nukenova became the reason for amending the Code of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offenses. Penalties for domestic violence have been seriously tightened. The changes were called the “Saltanat Law”.

[…] The interest in the trial was initially understandable, since a well-known former official in the country was in the dock. “The accused Bishimbayev is a representative of the “golden youth of Kazakhstan,” that small stratum who received all the best from the cradle: a good education and a comfortable life. And when these men in power today have no morals, no shame, no conscience, it hurts,” explains Gulzada Serzhan, head of the Kazakh human rights organization Feminita, in a conversation with Forbes Woman.

The uniqueness of this process is that the official’s crime is not swept under the rug. Open broadcasts of jury trials can be seen on the website of the Supreme Court, in various media streams, on YouTube – this is the first time this has happened in Kazakhstan.

The second beating of Nukenova occurred at about 07:00 in the morning in the restaurant lobby, as evidenced by recordings from surveillance cameras. The accused does not deny the beatings. “I grabbed her by the hair, gave her four strong slaps in the face – two from the left hand, two from the right, at that moment she apparently fell. When she fell, I kicked her three or four times on the thigh, on the buttock, I clearly realized that no vital organ should [быть задет]… I kicked her four times: “Get up, what are you doing.” I was angry and started lifting her by the hair,” he admitted.

After that, Bishimbayev dragged Nukenova by the hair into the VIP booth of the restaurant, where there are no CCTV cameras. What happened there is unknown. Saltanat never came out alive.

Bishimbayev assures that she fell asleep in the booth and did not wake up. “He said that when he supposedly thought that she had fallen asleep, he covered Saltanat with a jacket (she was undressed. – Forbes Woman). He thought, okay, now she will wake up, he did not feel her pulse. And instead of calling an ambulance, he called his clairvoyant and asked if Salta was alive. She replied: “Now she’ll sleep it off and wake up.” It was the Minister of Economy, the Presidential Adviser – and this man is calling a fortune teller!” – comments media manager Aysana Ashim.

Later, Bishimbayev told the director of the establishment, his relative Bakhytzhan Baizhanov, to release the staff and also delete all recordings from video cameras (the investigation later restored them) – prosecutor Aizhan Aimaganova told the court about this. Then Bishimbayev asked Baizhanov to take the girl’s phone home, allegedly so that her brother, who was monitoring her movements by geolocation, would not come for Saltanat, and a new scandal would not occur, and on the way to stop at a shopping center and a sports club. Investigators believe that this is how he wanted to leave traces of the supposed presence of the murdered woman in other places.

The ambulance call came from Baizhanov at 19:55 – more than 12 hours after the beating. At 21:40, doctors finished examining the body. “At that time, the degree of rigor mortis was “well developed.” From which experts come to the conclusion that death occurred no less than six to eight hours before the moment of discovery,” explained the lawyer of the victims’ family, Zhanna Urabakhova. On the same day, the ex-official was arrested.

The death of Saltanat Nukenova was the result of a closed craniocerebral injury, the examination says. Multiple abrasions and bruises were found on her face and body, and her nose was broken. Forensic expert Takhir Khalimnazarov said that injuries consistent with strangulation were found on the body of the deceased. Bishimbayev's lawyers insist that it was an old hematoma.

The accused does not admit guilt to premeditated murder and torture. “I didn’t think a slap could cause death. In general, I had no idea that as a result of this she could suffer a traumatic brain injury,” says Bishimbayev.

Open process

The accused himself asked for openness of the process, being confident that he could prove that he committed the crime unintentionally. For the same reason, he requested that his case be tried by a jury.

Forbes Woman's interlocutors agree that Bishimbayev hopes to win over the conservative part of society, for which the concept of “comfort” is important – public condemnation of a person who does not meet moral standards. “Uyat” in relation to a woman is any “inappropriate behavior”, for example, wearing a short skirt, contradicting her husband, not bowing to older relatives, getting a divorce and even marrying a foreigner.

Understanding this very well, Bishimbayev says in court: “she threw away the earrings that my mother gave her,” “she drank alcohol,” emphasizing that she suffered from addiction. Although the forensic examination showed a low alcohol content in the blood and urine of the murdered woman, the very consumption of alcohol by a woman and disrespect for her mother-in-law are unacceptable for Kazakhs. “She [до замужества] dated married men. She said that she needed financial support,” the accused claims. “Bishimbaev constantly emphasizes that he gave gifts, tries to present Nukenova as an escort, allegedly she only fell for the money. It is not true. And what does this have to do with murder?” — media manager Aysana Ashim is indignant.

“Bishimbaev is putting on a show not for us, but for the jury. It puts pressure on stereotypes, on markers that define “good” and “bad” women, says Moldir Alban from SVET. “Unfortunately, in our country people still pay attention to whether the bride is “pure” or “not pure.” Even if it is not important to the man himself, it matters to the family, and they [члены семьи] They may insult the daughter-in-law, say that she “has the wrong reputation” and that she was not married as a virgin. In some areas they can still pull out the sheet after the wedding night, in some remote areas they can check to see if there really was blood.” As researchers Galym Zhusipbek and Zhanar Nagaeva explained in their article “The rights of kelins in Central Asia,” conservative sentiments have been intensifying in Kazakh society for 30 years after the collapse of the USSR. In the restoration of traditions, which include “uyat”, many see the revival of true “Kazakhness”, which is opposed to “Sovietness”. These ideas are supported by both men and women.

Among other things, Bishimbayev stated that Saltanat swore, which, according to tradition, is also unacceptable for a woman. Their correspondence, read out during the trial, suggests the opposite: there is no swearing in it, but it is clear how politely and even helpfully Saltanat communicated with her husband. “On November 8, Bishimbayev writes: “Salta, didn’t you order deodorant for me? Forgot as usual? Nukenova replies: “I ordered it, zhanym (dear), they’ll bring it now… forgive me, please,” the prosecutor reads the correspondence aloud.

Bishimbayev also stated at the trial that the murdered woman allegedly suffered from borderline personality disorder. “He is trying to make her seem hysterical, unbalanced, that she always arranged scenes of jealousy for him, controlled him, and so on. And everything he did himself, he attributes to her. This is a typical move by an abuser,” explains human rights activist Moldir Alban.

“In essence, this process is an online broadcast of how the mechanisms of psychological violence work,” writes Kazakh columnist Maya Akisheva. — A gaslighter’s favorite trick is to accuse a woman of inadequacy in order to sow doubts in her about the sanity of her own mind. And now gaslighting is happening throughout the whole country, they are trying to sow this doubt in us.”

Against this background, one is struck by the courage of Saltanat’s brother Aitbek Amangeldy, who also advocates for maximum openness of the process, while relatives of victims of domestic violence usually try not to talk about the fact that something was wrong in their family, because this is also “comfort.” ” Many social media users draw attention to how difficult it is for victims during the trial, since the judge does not stop Bishimbayev when he talks about his wife’s allegedly inappropriate behavior, which is not supported by the facts. “Not every family has the same resourceful brother who, having overcome emotions, will go to protect his sister, conduct examinations, hire lawyers and will ensure that the culprit receives punishment,” emphasizes Gulzada Serzhan from Feminita.

In one of his speeches, Aitbek Amangeldy pointed out that in Pavlodar (where the Nukenova family lives), unlike Shymkent (the hometown of the Bishimbayev family), women are not beaten – this is an important regional detail. “In more conservative regions, in the south and west of Kazakhstan, according to statistics, there is more violence against women,” notes human rights activist Moldir Alban. — Bishimbayev admitted: he kicked him several times, slapped him in the face, and hit him on the head. But his entire family is convinced that he is innocent. This is the norm for them. It's very scary”.

The authorities also advocated openness of the process. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to keep this matter under special control. “The law must be the same for everyone,” Tokayev said. According to political scientist Dosym Satpayev, there are several reasons for such an unprecedented step. It fits into the theses broadcast by the authorities “about a fair Kazakhstan, about changes and reforms.” At the same time, the authorities do not consider the trial political (this would hardly be possible if there were an opposition figure in the dock). But Bishimbayev also ceased to be “one of our own” for the authorities, Satpayev explains in a conversation with Forbes Woman: “The trial against him did not harm Tokaev’s image in any way.” Finally, this crime attracted too much public attention. […]