The video surveillance images broadcast during the domestic violence trial were disturbing: we see the accused dragging his wife by the hair, then punching and kicking her. A few hours after the recording, she died of head trauma.
The trial of businessman Kuandyk Bishimbayev, Kazakhstan’s former economy minister, following the death of his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, has struck a chord in the Central Asian country. Tens of thousands of people have signed petitions calling for tougher penalties for domestic violence.
On April 11, senators approved a bill strengthening domestic violence laws, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed it four days later. It was nicknamed “Saltanat Law” in his honor.
Kazakhs are fascinated by Bishimbayev’s trial, the first in this country of more than 19 million people to be broadcast online, and debates about it dominate social media. Many see it as a moment of truth for Tokayev’s promises of reform and accountability.
Bishimbayev, 44, once seen as a Western-educated new face of Kazakhstan’s government led by former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, was jailed on corruption charges in 2018 before being pardoned less than two years into his sentence of 10 years.
Nukenova, 31, was found dead in November in a restaurant owned by a relative of her husband. Bishimbayev, accused of torturing and killing her, maintained his innocence for weeks, but admitted in court Wednesday that he beat her and caused her death “unintentionally.”
Her lawyers initially disputed medical evidence that Nukenova died from repeated blows to the head. They also presented her as being prone to jealousy and violence, although no video from the restaurant’s security cameras played in court showed her attacking Bishimbayev.
Aitbek Amangeldy, Nukenova’s older brother and a key witness for the prosecution, told The Associated Press he had no doubt that his sister’s tragic fate had changed attitudes toward domestic violence.
“It changes people’s minds when they see first-hand what it looks like when a person is tortured,” Amangeldy said in a video interview, citing the harrowing video played in court.
“Of course, it’s difficult for me to be in court, listening to various things that the defendants say,” he said. “It is even more painful to know that (their) words are being broadcast across the country. But I understand that these broadcasts also constitute educational material, especially for lawyers and human rights defenders.
Like neighboring Russia, Kazakhstan remains largely a patriarchal society and progress is slow on issues such as domestic violence, sexual harassment and employment disparities.
According to a 2018 study supported by UN Women, the United Nations gender equality agency, around 400 women die each year from domestic violence in Kazakhstan, although many cases of abuse go unreported.
In 2017, Kazakhstan decriminalized beatings and other acts causing “minor” physical harm, making them punishable only with fines or short prison sentences. Russia enacted a similar law that year, outraged women’s rights advocates. Kazakhstan’s new law reverses this trend, increasing sanctions against attackers and introducing new criminal offenses, including harassment of minors.
Days after Nukenova’s death, her relatives launched an online petition urging authorities to adopt the “Saltanat Law” to strengthen protection for those at risk of domestic violence. It quickly collected more than 150,000 signatures.
As Bishimbayev’s trial began, more than 5,000 Kazakhs wrote to senators asking them to toughen laws against abuse, Kazakh media reported.
However, Amangeldy said the final version of the law did not include all the provisions her family and allies wanted, noting that “we still don’t have legal standards around stalking” of adults.
Viktoriya Kim, a researcher at Human Rights Watch based in Kazakhstan, said the very notion of “domestic violence” is absent from the country’s penal code. Including it, she said, would send “a clearer signal.”
But Amangeldy says Kazakh society has clearly “passed a point of no return.”
“For years, in Kazakhstan and throughout the region, the issue (of domestic violence) has remained silent. Raising the problem is already half the solution,” he said.
Women’s rights advocate Aigerim Kussainkyzy said Bishimbayev’s trial had led to “a collective awakening” among politicians and ordinary citizens.
“Some might even call this the trial of the century. …Politicians, in particular, have started to think about the consequences of domestic violence on their own daughters,” said Kussainkyzy, who was among the civil society representatives that lawmakers consulted before passing the bill .
The proposals were met with stiff resistance from the Kazakh Union of Parents, an influential association that echoes Russia’s opposition to feminist initiatives and LGBTQ+ rights. On the day Tokayev signed the domestic violence law, the organization awarded the “Mother of the Year” award to Bishimbayev’s mother, Almira Nurlybekova, in recognition of her “courage…in supporting her son in the legal proceedings and fighting for their rights.”
Tokayev has repeatedly spoken about strengthening the protection of women. In January, it came after the Justice Department refused to consider the petition from Nukenova’s family.
Despite the inclusion of activists in the legislative process, some Kazakh rights defenders say the adoption of the law was accompanied by continued pressure on these defenders, independent of the government.
Last month, authorities in Almaty – Kazakhstan’s largest city and business center – blocked a rally for International Women’s Day in a show of solidarity with victims of domestic violence. Feminita, the feminist and LGBTQ+ rights group that tried to organize it, has been fighting for years to get official registration.
In December, Kazakhstan placed women’s rights activist Dina Smailova on its wanted list after authorities launched a criminal fraud investigation that she described as likely revenge for her work.
Smailova, director of the NeMolchi.KZ foundation, which stands for “Don’t Be Silent” and advocates for victims of abuse, told AP that she and her organization were unable to participate in discussions about the new law.
“I have lost confidence in the authorities, because even if they pass a law protecting women and children from violence, they pass harsher laws against independent journalists and bloggers,” Smailova said in an interview from the Montenegro, where she lives.
She welcomed the bill “as a first step” but said it could only be adequately implemented after tackling “corruption and nepotism” within law enforcement and courts, citing the fraud charges brought against her.
“Kazakhstan is a country where everyone has many relatives… and if there is a case involving a relative of a law enforcement officer, then this person will certainly escape responsibility,” he said. she said, adding that education campaigns and media are needed to change attitudes. .
Senate President Maulen Ashimbayev said properly implementing the law would require “a lot of work,” including educational campaigns in schools and media, as well as vigilance by civil society groups.
HRW’s Kim told the AP that the investigation into Smailova, who repeatedly criticized authorities’ failure to protect abused women and children, was marred by “numerous procedural violations.” raising “serious concerns that she is being persecuted.”
“I would like to see more willingness from the authorities to help and support those who fight and promote women’s rights,” the researcher said, noting that concerns about Kazakhstan’s global reputation played a role in his desire to act against domestic violence.
“International organizations have been calling for this measure for years. This is something that the authorities were willing to do to meet the rights defenders halfway,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bishimbayev’s trial continues to spark controversy. Police are investigating telephone threats reported by Judge Ayzhan Kulbayeva after she rejected forensic evidence from defense lawyers, saying Nukenova’s death could have been caused by a pre-existing illness.
As final arguments approach, debate rages in Kazakhstan over its justice system and women’s rights, with many believing the trial has already changed the country forever.
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