Ex-Kazakhstan minister beat and stomped his younger wife to death: “She was not a perfect wife”

The process can be followed online and the residents of Kazakhstan do so en masse. Because many see the trial as the moment of truth for current President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Those promised reforms in the Central Asian republic, impunity must disappear. Tens of thousands of Kazakhs have already signed petitions demanding harsher penalties for domestic violence.

The president already signed a stricter law last week. And that will give women in particular some reassurance. Because many Kazakhs have loose hands. And so also ex-Minister of Economy Kuandyk Bishimbayev (43). He hit his wife, astrologer Saltanat Nukenova (31), so hard that she died in hospital from her injuries.

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“Not a perfect wife”

Bishimbayev, who faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty, had originally claimed in court that his wife had died of “self-inflicted” wounds on November 9 last year. Afterwards he adjusted his statements and referred to involuntary blows. According to his lawyer, “she was not a perfect wife.”

But the judge skillfully dismissed most of the allegations. The images captured by surveillance cameras at the hotel/restaurant where the incidents occurred left little to the imagination. The videos were shown in court and caused a lot of emotion. Because many women recognized themselves in it.

The camera images were shown in the courtroom and that caused a lot of emotions. Because many women recognized themselves in it

Third wife

The images, which were announced as shocking by the judge, clearly showed how the ex-minister, father of four children, abused his third wife Saltanat Nukenova in a restaurant. After he punched her left, she fell to the ground. When she tried to get up, he gave her some severe blows and stomps and then dragged her by the hair to give her some more blows. When the woman tried to crawl away on her hands and knees, he grabbed her by the throat and punched her again. Until she finally lay knocked out on the ground. Remarkable: not once did anyone intervene.

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And also punishment: Bishimbayev, as could be seen in other images, did not care about his seriously injured wife and simply went to a restaurant to eat something. Afterwards he did not call an ambulance to take the woman, who was already in a coma, to the hospital, but he called a fortune teller. He had reassured him that Nukenova was okay, he stated. It was not the first time that the astrologer was hit, as was revealed in court. Images of a woman beaten black and blue proved that the ex-minister had loose hands.

It was not the first time that the astrologer was hit. Images of a woman beaten black and blue proved that the ex-minister had loose hands

Saltanat Nukenova died of severe brain trauma, according to the autopsy. Nukenova’s older brother, Aitbek Amangeldy, testified in court and said he hoped his sister’s death had not been in vain. That violence against women is now finally being seriously tackled. But most Kazakhs fear that even if he is found guilty, he will somehow avoid appropriate punishment, as he did seven years ago in a major corruption case.