Translated material
Nazarbayev will not tolerate criminals in his family
Rakhat Aliyev faces divorce from the presidential daughter
The Kazakh authorities are determined to arrest and bring home the internationally wanted Rakhat Aliyev (pictured) . At the end of last week, a criminal case was opened against the husband of President Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter, Dariga, on charges of kidnapping, as well as economic crimes. Following this, he was removed from his post as Kazakhstan's ambassador to Austria and the OSCE. A special group of Kazakh intelligence officers headed by Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic Askhat Daubaev flew to Vienna to capture the 44-year-old son-in-law of the president.In Kazakhstan, the intrigue developing around the once all-powerful presidential son-in-law has overshadowed even the events associated with constitutional changes, the main one of which gives the right to Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been the permanent leader of Kazakhstan since 1989, to run for the presidency for life. Kazakh Internet sites are full of rumors and predictions regarding the fate of the fugitive presidential son-in-law. The most popular of them predicts the inevitable and speedy divorce process of Rakhat Aliyev and Dariga Nazarbayeva - of course, on the initiative of the latter. With reference to some “insider sources”, it is reported that Rakhat Aliyev “took his belongings from the house in which he lived (in Vienna - Ed. ) in an unknown direction in several trucks.” It seems obvious that the ex-ambassador, who has lost diplomatic immunity, must now go into hiding. However, the information about “several trucks” with things seems to be an exaggeration.
Aliyev's former colleagues at the OSCE headquarters, representing other countries, claim that the real estate he purchased in the Austrian capital is not limited to one apartment. But if diplomats know this, then it is certainly not a secret for the Kazakh special group sent to Vienna. Consequently, Aliyev must hide in other places inaccessible to his compatriots. But in any case, he remains within Austria, since, as stated by the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan Kozhakhmetov, “so-called “red cards” are displayed all over the world, which do not allow a wanted citizen to move from one country to another.”
According to Vremya Novostey's sources in the diplomatic circles of the Austrian capital, it is not ruled out that in the coming days the ex-ambassador of Kazakhstan will turn to the Austrian government with a request for political asylum. Such issues are resolved through the court, which will first be forced to determine its attitude to the request of the Kazakh authorities to extradite Aliyev. While the court is considering this issue, Nazarbayev’s son-in-law will not face deportation to his homeland. As for granting him political asylum, his former colleagues in the OSCE, in a conversation with VN, assessed this prospect with skepticism. In their opinion, Mr. Aliyev is not akin to the “Kazakh Berezovsky” and he certainly cannot compare with the Kazakh ex-Prime Minister Kazhegeldin, a political opponent of President Nazarbayev, who headed the government in 1994-1997 and has lived in exile since 1998. West.
The family of Zholdas Timraliev, one of the top managers of the Kazakh Nurbank, whose disgraced son-in-law is accused of kidnapping, spoke out against granting Rakhat Aliyev asylum in Austria. A statement on this matter addressed to the Austrian Ambassador to Kazakhstan was handed over to employees of the Austrian consulate in Almaty yesterday.
The opposition party Real Ak Zhol issued a statement calling the kidnapping a “monstrous act” that meant “the final political decline of Rakhat Aliyev.” The oppositionists recalled that after the tragic death (according to the official version it was suicide) in 2005 of the ex-mayor of Almaty Zamanbek Nurkadilov and the murder in 2006 of another well-known politician Altynbek Sarsenbaev and his two assistants, “information began to appear about possible involvement in these bloody crimes of R. Aliyev.” “The real Ak Zhol” demanded that criminal cases be resumed “into the violent death of Nurkadilov, that the murder of Sarsenbaev be returned for additional investigation, and that the possible involvement of the mentioned R. Aliyev in it be carefully examined.”
President Nursultan Nazarbayev has so far given a public assessment of the turbulent events that unfolded around his family. However, he has not yet commented on the unlimited powers he received. It is possible that Nazarbayev will break his silence on June 7, when he will hold a two-hour Internet conference. By yesterday evening, the president had already received about a hundred questions.
Yesterday, Nursultan Nazarbayev received the head of the Kremlin administration Sergei Sobyanin, who arrived in Astana on a three-day visit, according to local officialdom, to meet with his Kazakh counterpart Adilbek Dzhaksybekov. Among the issues discussed with Mr. Sobyanin were “constitutional amendments that radically changed the political system of Kazakhstan,” which, according to the Kremlin guest, “were received with great interest in Russia.” It is not reported whether the case of Rakhat Aliyev, which no less radically changed the situation in Kazakhstan, was discussed at meetings with the head of Putin’s administration.