In Kazakstan, a ‘storm’ over domestic violence after minister killed wife
Al Jazeera
The livestreamed murder trial of the ex-economy chief has kickstarted a much-needed national conversation.
Warning: This article contains details of violent domestic abuse that some may find upsetting.
On November 9 last year, in the VIP room of a restaurant in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, Saltanat Nukenova was beaten to death by former minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev, her husband.
Surveillance footage shows him viciously punching and kicking Nukenova in the restaurant, which is owned by his family, before dragging her by the hair to a separate room, where there were no cameras.
As she lay dying in the suite, covered in her blood, Bishimbayev phoned a fortune-teller, who assured him his wife would be fine. When an ambulance finally arrived 12 hours later, Nukenova was pronounced dead at the scene. She was 31 years old.
Bishimbayev, 44, has admitted guilt. He has acknowledged causing her death, but said he had not acted “with exceptional cruelty”, which is what he has been charged with.
