Politician seen beating his wife to death on CCTV in horror 8-hour attack in case that has sparked outrage in Kazakhstan
A POLITICIAN has sparked outrage in Kazakhstan after he was seen beating his wife to death on CCTV in a horror eight-hour attack.
Shocking footage showed businessman Kuandyk Bishimbayev, 44, punching and kicking Saltanat Nukenova, 31, at a family restaurant in November 2023.
Kazakhstan’s former economy minister was charged with torturing and killing his wife despite attempts to maintain his innocence for a number of weeks.
He eventually admitted to beating his wife and “unintentionally” causing her death in court last month.
Bishimbayev had previously been jailed for bribery in 2018, although he spent less than two years of his ten-year sentence in prison before he was pardoned.
Nukenova was found dead in the BAU restaurant – owned by one of her husband’s relatives – in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital city, on November 9 last year.
The disturbing CCTV footage showed the couple engaging in conversation before Bishimbayev, a father-of-four, grabbed his wife by the hair and dragged her out of shot.
According to Nukenova’s mother, eight hours of torture then followed.
Her daughter died as a result of brain trauma following multiple blows to the head.
Bishimbayev’s lawyers initially disputed medical evidence indicating this as the cause of Ms Nukenova death.
They also made attempts to portray Bishimbayev’s wife as prone to jealousy and violence.
This was despite there being no video from the restaurant’s security cameras played in court that showed her attacking Bishimbayev.
According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, restaurant staff were forbidden to call emergency services.
An instruction was also given to erase CCTV footage under the pretext of technical failure.
The trial is the first of its kind to ever be streamed online in Kazakhstan and made readily accessible to its 19 million people.
Nukenova’s death has attracted the attention of the nation as a result, sparking calls for new legislation tackling domestic violence.
Tens of thousands of people have signed petitions calling for new laws to hold those guilty of abuse to account.
Senators have since approved a bill which toughens spousal abuse laws – dubbed “Saltanat’s Law”.
Who is Kuandyk Bishimbayev?
KUANDYK Bishimbayev is currently on trial for the murder of his wife after being accused of beating her to death.
But the businessman, who is also Kazakhstan’s former Minister of National Economy, is already well known to law enforcement.
Bishimbayev, 44, was once seen as a fresh, Western-educated face of Kazakhstan’s government and a former “favourite” of former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.
In 2018, however, he was jailed for bribery and placed in an institution of the maximum security penal system.
In February 219, he appealed for pardon and saw his sentence reduced to four years, before he was pardoned less than two years into his initial ten-year sentence.
Bishimbayev was born in the city of Kyzyl-Orda (now Kyzylorda) in 1980.
In 2001, he earned masters in business administration from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. as part of the Bolashak scholarship.
In May 2016, he was made Kazakhstan’s Minister of National Economy after waves of unrest during the protests against land reforms to replace Erbolat Dosaev.
He was eventually dismissed from his post on 28 December 2016.
Nukenova’s brother, Aitbek Amangeldy, a key prosecution witness in the case, said he had no doubt his sister’s tragic fate shifted attitudes about domestic violence in Kazakhstan.
“It changes people’s minds when they see directly what it looks like when a person is tortured,” he told the Associated Press.
During a court session on April 1, Bishimbayev apologised to the Nukenova’s relatives for her death.
“It was always very difficult for me at first to realise her death,” he said, as reported by UNN.
“I want to apologise. I don’t expect forgiveness, but it’s my responsibility. I realise this is an irreparable loss, and I am complicit in the circumstances.”
Bishimbayev would then talk about his life with his murdered wife for almost five hours, without getting to the episode of the murder.
He then asked the court to postpone the hearing of this episode to the next session, referring to the fact that he was “tired of talking”.
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.