The World Briefly

April 29, 2024

Reality TV

Kazakhstan

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Kazakhs have been riveted by a high-profile trial over the alleged murder of a 31-year-old woman by her husband, a case that has shocked the country and prompted calls to address the ongoing problem of domestic violence in the resource-rich Central Asian nation, Radio Free Europe reported.

Businessman and former Minister of Economy, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, has been accused of murdering his wife, Saltanat Nukenova. The victim’s body was found in November in a restaurant owned by a relative of Bishimbayev.

Prosecutors have charged Bishimbayev, 44, with torture and murder. They have also accused his cousin, Bakhytzhan Baizhanov, of failing to report a crime in process.

Security camera footage displayed during the trial showed Bishimbayev dragging Saltanat by her hair and striking her multiple times. She later died of brain trauma.

Bishimbayev has maintained his innocence, but admitted to the court last week that he had beaten her and “unintentionally” caused her death.

Since it began late in March, the trial has been televised and streamed online – a first in the country – creating a lot of buzz, the Associated Press wrote.

It also triggered outrage over the issue of domestic violence in Kazakhstan, where one in six women claim to have faced some form of physical violence at the hands of their partner.

The country’s interior ministry officially registered more than 100,000 cases of domestic violence per year, but analysts suggest the actual number is much higher.

Shortly after her death, Saltanat’s relative launched an online petition to push for a tougher law on domestic violence that quickly gained more than 150,000 signatures.

Earlier this month, the country’s upper house of parliament passed “Saltanat’s law” which was later signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

This story originally appeared in the April 29, 2024 newsletter, Silent Treatment.