The trial of a former Kazakhstan minister charged with beating his wife to death has become the talking point across the nation, with some seeing it as a litmus test of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s promise to build a fairer, more equitable society.
Saltanat Nukenova, 31, was found dead last November in a restaurant owned by a relative of her husband Kuandyk Bishimbayev, where the couple had spent almost a whole day and the previous night. She had been unconscious for hours.
In a recent hearing, the court was shown 8-hour-long footage of 44-year-old Kuandyk Bishimbayev, a former economy minister, beating his wife Saltanat Nukenova. The surveillance footage shows Bishimbayev kicking and punching the 31-year-old repeatedly in a restaurant owned by his family.
He is then seen dragging her by the hair to a separate room, where there were no cameras.
When she tried to escape by hiding in the toilet, Bishimbayev “broke down the door, pulled her out, and continued beating her,” the prosecutor said during the trial.
“He grabbed her by the throat after dragging her out of the toilet. This is when she lost consciousness,” the prosecutor added.
As she lay on the floor, covered in her blood, Bishimbayev dialled a fortune-teller, who assured him his wife would be fine. The ambulance arrived 12 hours later, and the medical staff declared her dead at the scene.
According to a coroner’s report, Saltanat died from brain trauma. One of her nasal bones was broken and there were multiple bruises on her face, head, arms, and hands.
Bishimbayev is charged with torture and murder with extreme violence and faces up to 20 years in prison. The murder trial, which is being livestreamed on social media, has gripped public attention and sparked a debate about gender equality and domestic violence.
Many Kazakhs see Bishimbayev as a typical member of the country’s wealthy ruling elite and fear that, even if found guilty, he may somehow escape proper punishment – as was the case with a previous conviction.
Bishimbayev was arrested in 2017 on bribery charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison but walked free after less than three years behind bars thanks to an amnesty and parole.
