#Zasaltanate

Former Minister Kuandyk Bishimbaev received 24 years in the case of the murder of his wife Saltanat Nukenova. We talk about this high -profile process

Today in Kazakhstan the last court hearing in the case Saltanat Nukenova was held. The process took a month and a half, each meeting was broadcast in YouTube, these broadcasts gained millions of views. The judge, together with the jury, sentenced ex-minister Kuandyk Bishimbaev to 24 years in prison. Together with him, by 4 years in prison, Bakhytzhan Bayzhanov was also sentenced to cover the crime for covering the crime.

The New Gazeta Europe talked with her brother Saltanat Nukenova Aytbek Amangeldy and lawyer Zhanna Urazbakhova about how the family of a murdered girl, lawyers and Kazakhstani activists achieved such a period.

Murder

Astana on November 8, 2023. On this day, Putin came to the city to take part in the CSTO summit. In the Talan Towers business center, he also had to meet with Kazakhstan President Kasim-Zhomart Tokayev. Literally across the road from this building there is a gastrocenter, where on November 9, the Putin delegation booked an VIP Kabinka in the BAU restaurant. The entire gastrocenter belongs to the family of the ex-minister of the country's economy Kuandyk Bishimbaev.

On the night of November 8 to 9, Bishimbaev himself torments and scores his wife Saltanat Nukenov for eight hours. All in the same BAU restaurant. Saltanate for many hours dies in a VIP rib, and when this happens, Bishimbaev racks his head how to take out his body. He is very disturbed by the fact that the territory around the restaurant that day is under a special security - because it was booked by the Putin delegation.

The quarrel of Bishimbaev and his wife began at a concert by Dima Bilan in Astana, he performed that evening. Bishimbaev liked Bilan. During the concert, according to the ex-minister himself, he ran into his friend, she kissed him on the cheek, and his wife was jealous.

Due to the quarrel, Saltanate and her husband left the concert ahead of time. The site where Bilan spoke was near the Bau restaurant, they went there on foot, continuing to swear along the road.

The couple occupied a VIP rib, ordered alcohol. Subsequently, Bishimbaev and his lawyers will use this fact.

According to their version, the Saltanate got drunk, she fell and fought against the wall. However, the forensic examination showed that the amount of alcohol in the blood of Nukenova could only have a “insignificant effect” on it.

The quarreling spouses did not sit still, constantly moving around the complex. At one in the morning of November 9, the CCTV cameras at the entrance to the gastro center building, where the BAU restaurant was located, was recorded as the Saltanate stands in a down jacket, a little from it - Bishimbaev. The man smokes a cigarette, says something to his wife, actively gesturing. What they talked about at that moment, it is not known, the cameras did not write down the sounds. At some point, Bishimbaev approaches the Saltanate and begins to grab her face.

After midnight in the restaurant itself there are no longer visitors. But in the building there are malyars who carry out repair work there. Bishimbaev and Saltanat again go to the restaurant, go to another VIP rib. According to Bishimbaev’s testimony in the trial, going into the booth, the Saltanate began to shout loudly at him, and he, so that repair workers did not hear her, invited his wife to go to the toilet and continue the conversation there.

Malyars really heard everything that was happening in the VIP rib. Rather, only Bishimbaev’s screams heard. One of them - Daniyar Meyrbekov - even wrote about the restaurant administrator what is happening:

“Kuandyk buoy. It seems that Vipka turned upside down, I hope the wife is alive. He arranged masks-shows, in a jacket on a bare torso. He either beat or spoiled the property. I didn’t tear out a slightly glass door, the input. ”

In the toilet, according to Bishimbaev, they continued to swear allegedly due to the fact that Saltanat took off her decorations presented by him and lowered them into the toilet. The lawyers of the Nukenova family and the prosecution insist that the jewelry from the Saltanate was forcibly removed by Bishimbaev himself, reproaching her things he bought.

The man, according to him, was very angry with the behavior of Saltanat and went to the bar to drink water. When he returned, he saw that Saltanate had locked him in the toilet. Bishimbaev took a tripod from the column, which was nearby, pierced the door to the restroom and penetrated there. He himself admits that he gave the Saltanate a “couple of slap in the face”, and then allegedly began to hold her by the waist, not allowing her to undress.

This is how he describes such a strange desire of his wife.

-At some point, she says: "I will take off my pants now." I grabbed her from behind and say: “What are you doing? Do not do this. " I grabbed her by the belt behind. And, it turns out, she was deployed to the toilet with her face, and with her back to me, because I grabbed her by her pants from behind, she wanted to pull them and lower them down. And, apparently, she had an idea - in words she said to me, I will throw you everything in my face now. Well, this is so in an aggressive, swearing form. At some point, I got angry and let go of the belt. And it turned out such a counterweight, movement, she apparently thought that I would hold, and pulled abruptly, and at that moment I released [her]. And somehow she-once, her pants flew down, and she lost her balance and began to fall towards the toilet. She hit the wall, somehow flew-her wall was on the right, she began to fall asleep and first flew against the wall, somehow pushed her hand away from her and fell her face to the toilet. It was just a very strong blow.

And from the toilet, her face bounced, and she still fell to the floor. Two blows. I was so taken aback. I watched what is happening. She probably was 10-15 seconds in this state with the toilet,

She was lying, the pants were already dangling below the knees. I watched, stood, I looked, ”Bishimbaev claimed at the trial on April 3.

Judicial experts posthumously diagnosed a fracture of the nose at the nasal. The meeting was performed by the forensic expert Tahir Khalimnazarov. According to him, Bishimbaev’s allegations that the girl could get such injuries, falling on the toilet, lies.

- In order for the peeled fracture of the nose, it is necessary to hit the toilet. <...> You can imagine, the toilet is not on the floor, it speaks. And this is not such a [large] distance so that the body accelerates, that is how it hit and is injured. This height [to the toilet] is not enough to get such a kinetic energy of the body to get such a serious injury, ”said Khalimnazarov in court.

Then Bishimbaev and Nukenov again went to the VIP rod. Along the way, Saltanat, as Bishimbaev says, only did that she fell and fought on the tiled floor. After that, the cameras again recorded the Saltanate at the entrance to the building. In the video, the Saltanate is semi -destroyed, with a down jacket on a naked body. Her face is swimming and in bruising.

At that moment, according to Bishimbaev, he decided to take the Saltanate home, but crashed into a curb by car, because of this they returned back to Bau. We went up to the desired floor on the elevator. At the exit from the elevator, the camera recorded them again. On the frames, the girl staggering. Bishimbaev stops her and beats her face four times. The girl is falling, the ex-minister beats her with his foot several times and tries to raise her by the hair, and then dug into a VIP rush.

In his speech, Bishimbaev did not deny that he beat the Saltanate, but said that "he deliberately did not hurt any vital organ."

- I grabbed her by the hair, gave four slap in the face - two from my left hand, two with the right. She fell at that moment. I could not understand: either she does it specifically, or she really is bad. When she fell, I kicked her three or four times on her thigh, on the buttock. I clearly realized that no life organ should ... I kicked it four times: "Get up, get up." I was angry and began to lift her by the hair, ”Bishimbaev said in court.

A video of the beating on the site at the elevator was shown in court. What happened next is unknown, there are no cameras in the booth.

According to Bishimbaev, he did not beat Saltanat anymore. However, the investigation found a hairpin of hair and bloodied curtains in the room. After the man dragged the Saltanate into the booth, he allegedly decided to call them a taxi home, but the girl at that moment fell on the sofa and snored in 30-40 seconds. " In general, the word “snoring” was used in court many times: the fact that the accused and his defense were called “snoring”, the forensic experts were called “dying wheezing”.

By the time the couple were in the booth, it was already early morning. Bishimbaev said that he decided to give his wife "to sleep a little." Then he called his relative and concurrently the director of the restaurant BAU Bakhytzhan Baizhanov supposedly in order to ask him to take them home.

- While he was driving, I was in the VIP cabin No. 1, near [with Saltanat] lay. When he arrived, she was undressed, I did not know how to dress her so that Baizhanov would not see her naked. I asked him to bring two blankets.

I wrapped it with a blanket, she held her neck, moved her hands, there was a feeling that she was interrupting her snoring, she definitely held her neck, moved her hands and controlled her body.

When I wrapped her, I called Baizhanov, and another blanket was like a sundress on top. And he pulled her hands so that we raised her hands. She moved, she had reflexes, she held her neck, her snoring disappeared, as if she was waking up. We went five to six meters to the VIP door. I thought now she would disperse, take steps, she moved her legs, and that she would wake up, but this did not happen. She seemed to be a drunken, tired man, a dead man who could not wake up, but mumbles something, ”said Bishimbaev in court.

Then they decided to put the girl back on the sofa. Bishimbaev told Bayzhanov to lock them outside in the booth so that they could "sleep." Closer to the dinner of November 9, Bishimbaev woke up and, according to him, noticed a large, emerging bruise on the saltanate. Instead of calling an ambulance, Bishimbaev acted differently. He called the fortuneteller.

- I woke up at 13:30, she snored, I tried to wake her, but she did not wake up. It was already clear that she had a big bruise on the whole left side and a swollen nose, I was worried. <...> I called a friend clairvoyant, asked: “We tried to wake her, she did not wake up, everything is all right with her? She has such a bruise, I don't know where he is, can you see? " - Bishimbaev told in court.

The fortuneteller allegedly said that the girl was just tired and very drunk, sleeping until the evening, then he will come to her senses. From this answer, Bishimbaev, according to him, was "relieved of the heart." Then he wrote a fortuneteller again, asked her to "read something so that the Saltanate would recover faster."

... In the courtroom were brother and parents Saltanat Nukenova. All the time that Bishimbaev talked about how Saltanate beat, they sobbed.

On the trial of April 22, what changed completely the course of the matter. Bishimbaev suddenly gave the judge a password from his phone. His defender Yerlan Gazimzhanov said that the defendant was "forced to go for it because he had no choice." Judge Aizhan Kulbaeva immediately at the meeting unlocked the phone of the ex-minister and opened the gallery. All the last videos were shot on the day of the murder of Saltanate. Bishimbaev recorded the moments of the torture of his wife. The videos themselves during the meetings were not shown, but even the judge who watched them covered her face with her hand.

By Audio, one could understand that Bishimbaev beat the Saltanate, humiliated and demanded to confess the relations that the girl supposedly had before marriage.

The battered and tortured girl first swears “her future children” that she was not a man’s mistress, whom Bishimbaev was talking about. Then it gives up and admits, but Bishimbaev does not stop even after that. In one of the video, Saltanate points to Bishimbaev to his bloodied shirt and says that this shirt will “be evidence”.

When the video showed his brother Saltanate Aitbek Amangeldy, he, who had fought for the fair punishment of his sister, burst into tears for six months. Then the video was demonstrated by the jury. One of them was bad from what he saw, the judge announced a break.

Bishimbaev simply forgot about the video on his phone. When the judge turned them on, he was shocked and began to say that someone threw these videos to him. And then he completely said that they were shot "another day." The family lawyer Saltanat Zhanna Urazbakhov drew attention to this when she performed in the debate.

- When the court opened his phone and began to watch the video, Bishimbaev swept in his camera. He approached the microphone and said: “They threw it on WhatsApp. They threw it to me, this video editing. ” But he also said one very important phrase that not everyone heard. I listened to this court. He said this: "It was shot another day." What is this talking about? The fact that Bishimbaev regularly shot the same videos. Because systematically, as written in the indictment, he subjected the Saltanate torture and torture, ”said Urazbakhova in court.

At lunch on November 9, Bishimbaev wrote to his relative Baizhanov to delete all the videos from surveillance cameras. According to forensic experts, by that time Saltan could already be dead. Bishimbaev denies this, but this is indirectly confirmed by further events.

Baizhanov widen the record from video surveillance cameras, but then they could restore the investigation. Bishimbaev also told Bayzhanov to take the phone of the Saltanate and wrap it in the places where it usually happens.

All this was the reason that Baizhanov himself was in the dock. For hiding and informing of a crime.

While Bayzhanov was dealing with the cameras and the telephone of Saltanat, Bishimbaev dressed, ordered a pilaf and barbecue for himself, ate literally in the next, probably already dead wife, a booth, and went to a meeting with the Kazakh blogger Gulnara Nasyrbekova. They met all in the same restaurant. There are several versions about why this meeting was needed. Bishimbaev, who was actually the leader of the entire gastro center, says that they met to discuss the advertising promotion of the restaurant. According to another version, about which the relatives of Saltanat spoke, Gulnara outwardly is very similar to Nukenov. Bishimbaev could wear her as his wife, planning to confuse the investigation. According to the third version, which, in a conversation with the New Gazeta Europe, shared the lawyer of the Nukenova family, Jeanne Urazbakhova, Bishimbaev tried to secure Alibi.

But there is a fourth version that Kazakhstani media actively wrote about. According to her, Gulnara helped to hide the evidence. The woman was called to a court session, where they read out her correspondence with Bishimbaev after their meeting. The girl wrote: "By the way, you smell of roses." This message was very different in tonality from their rest of the correspondence, so people who followed the trial online hooked on it. So the version arose that this is the English idiom “Come Up Smelling Like Roses”, which literally means “to get out of the water dry”.

But Bishimbaev did not come out dry out of the water. Until the evening, he tried to get rid of the traces of the crime, but the state preservation service prevented everything, which then was on duty at the gastroenter building because of Tokayev’s meeting with Putin.

At eight in the evening, Baizhanov still called an ambulance, and did this contrary to Bishimbaev's demands. The ambulance recorded that by the time of their arrival, the girl was already dead for 6-8 hours.

Acquaintance

The Saltanat Nukenova family is considered in Pavlodar - their hometown - very respected. The girl’s parents are businessmen. They have two children: Saltanate and her older brother Aitbek.

- We have a difference with a five -year -old Salta, I'm older. I have memories right from the day when it was brought home [from the hospital], ”said Aytbek Amangeldy, brother Saltanat Amangeldy, in a conversation from the New Evrop. - We became friends with age, we understood that we were the people closest to each other. In many ways, they listened to each other. We even had a joke that we have identical blood with her, half of my dad, half of my mother. And if mom and dad are strangers [by blood] people, then we are not.

Saltanat studied on a financier in Astana, and then studied in language courses in the UK. After studying, the girl decided to do astrology. According to her brother, she was fond of this since childhood and learned to make astrological forecasts to her relatives. And the Saltanat family supported her very much.

Acquaintance with Bishimbaev in 2022 happened due to the work of Saltanate. The girl did not consult men, made an exception only if they came with their wives. Bishimbaev, who, seeing a photo of Saltanate, wanted to meet her, sent his friend to sign up for a consultation under the guise of a married couple. From her, he also received the number of Nukenova.

Then he suddenly appeared in the restaurant, where the Saltanate was held at a working meeting. He explained this with a coincidence.

- The waitress then approaches Salt and says: "This person asked you in the morning." That is, this is such another lie. It seems to people that stalkerism happens only in films, but in life this also often happens. Then Salta jokingly said that he was a stalker. He arrived and waited for her at the cafe, and it seemed to her rather romantic than dangerous. Well, he is a chubby boy, intelligent, sociable. Such an image does not cause fear.

She began to call him Pushkin because he wrote her huge messages, whole poems. Wrote: “You do not judge me from what you see on the Internet”

- says Aitbek.

And on the Internet they wrote a lot about Bishimbaev. Он родился в семье адвоката, учился в Казахской академии управления, а затем в рамках президентской программы отучился в США в престижном вузе. Уже в 26 лет он стал вице-министром индустрии и торговли. Тогда казахские СМИ писали о нем как о самом молодом и перспективном политике, в которого вкладывал средства сам Назарбаев. Из-за этого в народе Бишимбаева прозвали «золотым мальчиком Назарбаева». Бишимбаев дослужился до министра экономики страны. Но в 2018 году его судили за хищение госимущества, приговорили к 10 годам лишениям свободы и буквально через год отсидки выпустили. Экс-министра помиловал сам Назарбаев, который на заседаниях правительства даже говорил, что ему «очень жалко» Бишимбаева, в которого вложили столько денег.

Бишимбаев убеждал Салтанат и ее семью, что его судили несправедливо. А из-за того, что отец Салтанат сам сидел из-за политически мотивированного дела, после того как принял участие в митингах в декабре 1986 года в Астане, они поверили, что и с Бишимбаевым могло произойти нечто похожее.

После недолгих ухаживаний Бишимбаев предложил Салтанат выйти за него замуж. The girl agreed. Свадьбу отыграли, заключили мусульманский брак, то есть никях, официально не расписывались. Но какой Бишимбаев на самом деле, стало ясно почти сразу после свадьбы. Буквально через несколько месяцев мужчина жестоко избил Салтанат; девушка тогда скидывала свою фотографию в синяках брату с просьбой сохранить ее у себя, потому что ее телефон проверяет муж.

— Это был первый случай физического насилия. Благодаря суду мы знаем, что само избиение было 9 марта, но она мне скинула фотографию только 20 марта. У нас из-за этого был серьезный конфликт с подсудимым, мы подрались. После 20 марта и до 9 ноября 2023 года мы всё время пытались ее забрать из этого брака. Сначала для нее это было неприемлемо, потому что они к тому моменту были в браке всего три месяца. Салтанат считала, что это притирка, что всё наладится. Мне кажется, она занималась самообманом. Была слишком самонадеянна. Раз на своих консультациях она помогает другим женщинам справиться с такими ситуациями, считала, что и она сама сможет. Но это длилось недолго, — вспоминает брат Салтанат.

Впоследствии Салтанат много раз пыталась уйти от мужа, они даже расторгали свой мусульманский брак, но потом женились снова. Когда Салтанат в очередной раз попыталась уйти, Бишимбаев угрозами заставил ее снять интимное видео. Якобы из-за того, что у нее есть фотографии, где она избита, и после развода она может его ими шантажировать. И из-за этого ему тоже нужно что-то, чем он может шантажировать в ответ. Это он и делал. Об этом стало известно из переписки Салтанат со своей подругой, где она жаловалась на шантаж со стороны Бишимбаева. На суде мужчина также не отрицал, что на его телефоне есть интимные видео Салтанат, снятые против ее воли.

Дело Салтанат

Дело Салтанат стало очень резонансным как в самом Казахстане, так и в целом в странах СНГ.

В разговоре с нами казахская правозащитница Динара Смаилова говорила, что в этом судебном процессе происходило противостояние «старого» и «нового» Казахстана. Бишимбаев — олицетворение старого назарбаевского Казахстана с безнаказанностью и коррупцией — не избежал наказания, потому что Токаев и его администрация хотели продемонстрировать, что времена изменились.

С другой стороны, семья Салтанат Нукеновой сделала очень много, чтобы их дочь не оставалась просто «цифрой в статистике». В соцсетях они выложили сотни видео, на которых девушка встречается с подругами, веселится на семейных посиделках, поет, танцует, радуется на своей свадьбе. Под каждым из них много комментариев людей, которые пишут, что за время судебного процесса Салтанат стала им «совсем родной».

— Феномен дела Салтанат заключается в том, что устои общества, которое раньше опиралось на традиции, которое верило в то, что развод — это позор для женщины, что нельзя уходить даже от абьюзера, что «сама довела, сама виновата» и так далее, — рухнули.

Мне кажется, раньше люди считали, что такое происходит только в каких-то маргинальных семьях. Но Салтанат — девушка с прекрасным западным образованием. Как и убийца, который еще и бывший министр экономики. И если в семье такого статуса происходит домашнее насилие, то о чём это говорит? В каком состоянии тогда наше общество в целом находится? Я думаю, это такой отрезвляющий для нас всех был момент, потому что все наконец-то поняли, что вне зависимости от того, в какой семье ты живешь, какое у тебя социальное положение, материальное положение, с бытовым насилием может столкнуться любая девушка, — говорит о значимости дела Салтанат адвокат ее семьи Жанна Уразбахова.

Большая огласка дела Салтанат, пикеты и митинги в поддержку убитой девушки привели к тому, что 11 апреля 2024 года в Казахстане вновь криминализировали домашнее насилие. Теперь за побои насильникам грозит уголовное дело. В народе этот закон назвали «законом Салтанат». В Казахстане домашнее насилие было декриминализировано в 2017 году при Назарбаеве. С этого момента количество случаев бытового насилия очень быстро росло.

— После декриминализации домашнего насилия в июле 2017 года мы заметили резкий скачок насилия. Наказанием для тех, кто наносит побои, было административное предупреждение. То есть насильника приглашали в суд, где ему говорили: «Не бей больше жену». Правонарушители понимал, что останутся безнаказанными, даже если они еще раз побьют. Из-за этого в 2020 году мы столкнулись с 164 000 случаями обращений в полицию по поводу домашнего насилия, — говорит адвокат Жанна Уразбахова.

За 2023 год 69 женщин и 7 детей погибли в результате семейно-бытового насилия в Казахстане. И, как говорит адвокат, одного закона недостаточно: пока не поменяется вся система, домашнее насилие будет оставаться такой же большой проблемой. Например, казахстанские правозащитники, с которыми мы говорили, жаловались на то, что полиция никак не реагирует на заявления жертв. Подобный случай произошел и прямо во время судов по делу Салтанат. 25 апреля в Караганде Балтабай Т. убил свою бывшую жену Гульмиру Таймасову на глазах у их общих несовершеннолетних детей.

В течение нескольких лет жертва обращалась в полицию, но каждый раз подозреваемый оставался безнаказанным и хвастался своими связями в органах.

В день убийства дети женщины вызвали полицейских. Те приехали, но даже увидев избитую женщину, ничего не сделали. Полицейские покурили с насильником и уехали. А через несколько часов после этого он нанес женщине несколько ножевых ранений.

Брат Салтанат Нукеновой в разговоре с «Новой-Европа» говорил, что, пока с убийством не столкнулась их семья, он даже не подозревал о том, как много женщин страдают от домашнего насилия. В соцсетях ему пишут десятки женщин, которые делятся своим опытом. Для того чтобы помочь им, Айтбек создал фонд имени Салтанат Нукеновой, куда жертвы могут обращаться за помощью.

ЕСЛИ ВЫ СТОЛКНУЛИСЬ С ДОМАШНИМ НАСИЛИЕМ, НИЖЕ СПИСОК ОРГАНИЗАЦИЙ, КУДА ВЫ МОЖЕТЕ ОБРАТИТЬСЯ

In Russia:

+7-495-916-30-00 — фонд «Насилию.нет»

+7-812-327-30-00 — телефон доверия «Кризисного центра для женщин (ИНГО)»

+7-499-901-02-01-Helpline of the Sisters Center (operates online receiver on the site)

В Казахстане:

+7-705-151-00-00 — общественный фонд «Не молчи KZ»

150 — «Союз кризисных центров»