The ex-minister of Kazakhstan who killed his wife asked a fortune teller for advice about his dying wife

In Kazakhstan, the trial of the country's former Minister of Economy Kuandyk Bishimbayev, who is accused of murdering his wife Saltanat Nukenova, continues. The court is examining the contents of his phone for the second day.

At the meeting on April 23, it turned out that on the day of Nukenova’s death, that is, November 9, 2023, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, Bishimbayev wrote to a clairvoyant friend from Shymkent that his wife did not respond to ammonia. She replied: “Everything is okay, she will sleep until the morning.” After another four hours, Bishimbayev again wrote to the fortune teller instead of calling an ambulance.

“At 19:24 you write whether she is “in herself.” I don’t understand your logic, are you writing to a person who is several thousand kilometers away to find out if she’s okay? You haven’t seen this yourself, in what condition? When she wrote “in herself,” did you believe her?” — Tengrinews.kz quotes judge Aizhan Kulbaeva as saying. To this, the former minister replied that he trusted the fortune teller’s words.

That day, Bishimbayev corresponded with at least two more women. He arranged a meeting at a restaurant with blogger Gulnara Nasyrbekova to discuss advertising for his establishment. “By the way, you smell like roses,” she wrote to the ex-official, attaching a photo of herself.

The second woman is recorded in his phone as “Yulia is super.” Judging by the correspondence, he also planned to meet with her. Bishimbayev asked the judge not to read these messages, calling them personal. He also refused to give any details about this woman.

At the hearing on April 22, the judge, jury, prosecution, defense and Nukenova’s relatives watched the video from Bishimbayev’s phone, which was unlocked for the first time right in the courtroom. The ex-minister himself provided the investigators with the password. There they found 12 videos filmed on the night of November 8-9.

Some of the female jurors cried during the viewing, one of them sobbing. Brother Saltanat Aitbek Amangeldy could not hold back his tears. At some point the judge had to call a break. In turn, the former official’s lawyers and he himself refused to view it.

At the request of the injured party, the video was not shown to the general public, but those in the hall could hear the audio. Judging by the sounds, Bishimbayev used obscene language, used force and forced Saltanat to look for something. He asked several times if she cheated on him with Raimbek. We are talking about Kazakh businessman Raimbek Batalov, who has already stated that he had no connection with Nukenova.

During the meeting, Bishimbayev first said that his phone was allegedly hacked and edited videos were uploaded there. Then he admitted that he filmed them himself, but could not explain why.

“I was essentially brought to such a state that I wanted to respond to her with humiliation for humiliation. She swore at me and threw away all my gifts. When we got out of the elevator, Saltanat swore at me again, and I had no mental strength left to control myself,” Bishimbayev commented on the video.

According to investigators, Kuandyk Bishimbayev beat his wife Saltanat Nukenova to death in November 2023 in one of the elite restaurants in Astana. He was charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan: “Inflicting physical and mental suffering through systematic beatings with the use of violent acts committed against a person who is financially dependent on the perpetrator” (Article 110, part 2, paragraph 1) and “Murder committed with particular cruelty” (Article 99, part 2, paragraph 5).

The former official partially admitted his guilt in the death of Nukenova. He denies that he killed her intentionally and with extreme cruelty. Bishimbayev apologized to the family of the deceased and stated that he did not expect forgiveness. According to Kazakh lawyers, the ex-official could face a sentence of 15 years in prison to life.

To receive the main news faster, subscribe to our telegram and Twitter .