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<h1 class="wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0cf1f711780aa98cec785b897a277f29" style="color:#241e1e;font-size:14px"><strong>Saltanat Nukenova, 31, died of brain trauma after the vicious attack by her husband Kuandyk Bishimbayev, a former economy minister in Kazakhstan </strong></h1>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9c197b4d2c753c7e3307420ac4589dee" style="color:#241e1e;font-size:14px"><strong>Bishimbayev, 44, a senior politician in the oil-rich Central Asian state was jailed for 24 years on Monday </strong></h1>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8eedf52b347f8517eec33c7bb6e0efdd" style="color:#241e1e;font-size:14px"><strong>He went on trial in April, charged with torturing and murdering his astrologer wife in <strong>November 2023</strong> </strong></h1>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3f50f15d38179dc4d5eb2718c017a372" style="color:#241e1e;font-size:14px"><strong>The onetime rising star in Kazakhstan politics denies that he deliberately killed her in a restaurant in Astana, the country&#8217;s capital </strong></h1>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3c5ddc2af6a28da39c5f82b91056630e" style="color:#241e1e;font-size:14px"><strong>Defendant told the judge &#8216;I am guilty of intentionally causing grievous harm to her health, which resulted in death through negligence, I am guilty, but not of premeditated murder&#8217; </strong></h1>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-23970837395eeddcc3b5e783349e7d45" style="color:#241e1e;font-size:14px"><strong>He was convicted of &#8216;murder with special cruelty&#8217; and &#8216;torture&#8217;, but the sentence was less than the life term that his wife&#8217;s family had vociferously demanded</strong></h1>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461736" style="width:845px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>&#8216;Why&#8217; disgraced former economy minister, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, [gasped], gasped in court as the guilty for murder verdict was read by the judge</strong></p>



<p>A senior politician in Kazakhstan on Monday was jailed for 24 years following his conviction for the brutal eight-hour beating of his wife, ending in the death of the 31-year-old woman in November 2023.<br>Saltanat Nukenova died of brain trauma after the vicious attack by her husband Kuandyk Bishimbayev, 44, the country&#8217;s former economy minister. Kazakhstan, is the largest country in Central Asia is the ninth largest in the world. The country is also a major oil producer.<br>Despite video evidence recorded on CCTV camera, the defendant, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, who was charged with torturing and murdering his astrologer wife, denied he deliberately killed Nukenova in a restaurant in Astana, the country&#8217;s capital. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Saltanat-Nukenova-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461739" style="width:844px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Killed: Saltanat Nukenova, [photo], 31, died of brain trauma after the vicious attack by her husband Kuandyk Bishimbayev, a former economy minister of Kazakhstan inside a restaurant in Astana</strong></p>



<p>Desperately seeking to avoid a life term, Bishimbayev told judge Ayzhan Kulbayeva: &#8216;I am guilty of intentionally causing grievous harm to her health, which resulted in death through negligence.<br>&#8216;I am guilty, but not of premeditated murder.&#8217;<br>He was convicted of &#8216;murder with special cruelty&#8217; and &#8216;torture&#8217;, but the sentence was less than the life term that his wife&#8217;s family had vociferously demanded.</p>



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<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Kuandyk Bischimbayev is caught on tape assaulting his wife Saltanat Nukenova </strong></p>



<p>A senior politician was jailed for 24 years in Kazakhstan today over a brutal eight-hour beating of his wife.<br>Saltanat Nukenova, 31, died of brain trauma after the vicious attack by her husband Kuandyk Bishimbayev, 44, a former economy minister in the oil-rich state.<br>He was charged with torturing and murdering his astrologer wife, but he denied he deliberately killed her in a restaurant in Astana, the country&#8217;s capital. <br>Desperately seeking to avoid a life term, he told judge Ayzhan Kulbayeva: &#8216;I am guilty of intentionally causing grievous harm to her health, which resulted in death through negligence.<br>&#8216;I am guilty, but not of premeditated murder.&#8217;<br>He was convicted of &#8216;murder with special cruelty&#8217; and &#8216;torture&#8217;, but the sentence was less than the life term that his wife&#8217;s family had vociferously demanded.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-torturing-and-murdering-his-astrologer-wife-Saltanat-Nukenova-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461742" style="width:848px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Seen in footage [image], at the crime scene beating and torturing <strong>Nukenova</strong> inside the restaurant in Astana, that turned fatal, <strong>Bishimbayev</strong> in court <strong>denied he intended to kill <strong>his wife</strong></strong></strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Justice-for-Saltanat-Nukenova-protest-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461743" style="width:800px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Attendees at an anti-femicide rally in Kazakhstan, in memory of Saltanat Nukenova hold up a large banner with the message &#8216;No to domestic violence&#8217; </strong></p>



<p>Her father said before the verdict: &#8216;I hope this inhuman will get a life term.&#8217;<br>Bishimbayev gasped &#8216;why&#8217; as the verdict was read by the judge.<br>A video of the savage beating was so disturbing that members of the jury wept when it was shown in court what became the &#8216;trial of the century&#8217; in Kazakhstan. <br>Locals were transfixed to online court broadcasts which heightened demands for tougher curbs on domestic violence.<br>The jail term of the former rising political star is a is a significant deviation in the career of a political actor, once a close confidante of ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was seen as a possible heir to former president. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-torturing-and-murdering-his-astrologer-wife-Saltanat-Nukenova-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461746" style="width:841px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Footage shows the victim, Saltanat Nukenova, being brutally assaulted by her husband, Kuandyk Bischimbayev, Kazakhstan&#8217;s former economy minister, inside a restaurant owned by one of his relatives</strong></p>



<p>The troubling series of recordings of the horrific assault shows Saltanat Nukenova being brutally beaten by her husband, Kuandyk Bischimbayev in a restaurant belonging to one of his relatives.<br>A second clip, from the restaurant lobby, shows the minister keeping up his brutal attack on his wife. As he grabs her throat, he drags her around a corner and starts to walk away before turning back. <br>Defending himself during the trial the former minister acted as if he had a right to beat his wife. <br>Bischimbayev shocked the court when he said &#8216;I was clearly aware that no vital organ should [be hurt],&#8217; prompting his mother-in-law to shout in court: &#8216;You were beating her to death for several hours!</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-torturing-and-murdering-his-astrologer-wife-Saltanat-Nukenova-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461747" style="width:843px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>A second recordings from the restaurant lobby, shows the suspect keeping up his brutal attack on his wife. Grabbing her by the throat, he is seen dragging her around a corner and walking away before turning back</strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-torturing-and-murdering-his-astrologer-wife-Saltanat-Nukenova-4-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461772" style="width:839px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Defending himself during the trial the former minister acted as if he had a right to beat his wife. Bischimbayev who was recorded battering his court, shocked the court when he said &#8216;I was clearly aware that no vital organ should [be hurt]&#8217; </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-and-his-wife-Saltanat-Nukenova-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461748" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Many Kazakhs reportedly fear that even if found guilty, <strong><strong>Bishimbayev </strong></strong>will evade commensurate sanction,<strong> typical of the country&#8217;s wealthy and ruling elite.</strong> <strong><strong>Bishimbaye</strong></strong>v has a pedigree of avoiding sanction from seven years ago in a corruption case </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Aitbek-Amangeldy-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461749" style="width:839px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>The victim&#8217;s brother, Aitbek Amangeldy [photo, standing in court], believes his sister&#8217;s killing has shifted attitudes about domestic violence in the country</strong></p>



<p>&#8216;I didn&#8217;t see my daughter, I didn&#8217;t bury her, I didn&#8217;t see her face.<br>&#8216;How did you beat her without particular cruelty?&#8217;<br>Saltanat died of head wounds caused by a strike with a &#8216;blunt object&#8217; after a night out in a restaurant named BAU, owned by the couple, which was closed to other guests.<br>The physical assault led to horrific blunt force trauma that led to her death: &#8216;These were not &#8220;bruises&#8221; on the face, but holes in her skull, at the back of the head and even inside her,&#8217; her relatives said.<br>&#8216;Her left eye leaked out,&#8217; one remarked.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Saltanat-Nukenova-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461752" style="width:841px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Bishimbayev went on trial for killing of his wife, Saltanat Nukenova [photo], who died of severe head trauma caused by a strike with a &#8216;blunt object&#8217; after a night out at BAU, a restaurant in in Astana, the nation&#8217;s capital in <strong>November 2023</strong></strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461755" style="width:838px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Kazakhstan&#8217;s former economy minister, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, now a businessman, sits in a defendants&#8217; cage in court in Astana, during his trial for the beating death of his much younger wife. <strong>Bishimbayev was jailed for ten years on corruption charges in 2018 before a presidential pardon by Nazarbayev after serving less than two years</strong> </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Saltanat-Nukenova-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461750" style="width:838px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>On April 11, <strong>Kazakhstan&#8217;s</strong></strong> <strong>senate approved a bill<strong> dubbed &#8216;Saltanat&#8217;s Law&#8217;</strong></strong>, <strong>toughening domestic violence laws which has was <strong>signed into law four days later by</strong> President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev </strong></p>



<p>The restaurant where the deadly assault happened belongs to one of Bishimbayev&#8217;s relatives. The defendant the court heard, who attempted destroying all CCTV evidence, also sent the staff home to avoid witnesses.<br>&#8216;Bishimbayev showed Nukenova pornography and asked if she was in it,&#8217; the prosecutor alleged in court.<br>Nukenova tried to leave him multiple times, claiming repeated beatings, according to evidence presented to the court.<br>When they met at the restaurant to resolve their problems, he beat her and she hid in a toilet, say reports citing law enforcement.<br>&#8216;Bishimbayev broke down the door, pulled her out, and carried on beating her,&#8217; alleged the prosecutor.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Saltanat-Nukenova-4-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461769" style="width:837px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Bishimbayev had pled not guilty to a charge of murder with extreme cruelty and instead claimed that his wife had died from &#8216;self-inflicted&#8217; injuries.</strong> <strong>Before he battered her to death, Nukenova [photo], tried to leave her husband multiple times, claiming repeated beatings, according to evidence presented to the court </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-and-his-wife-Saltanat-Nukenova-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461757" style="width:842px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>The court that after he&#8217;d killed his wife, Bishimbayev reportedly calmly sat down for a meal and instead of calling an ambulance, the minister admitted to the court that he had phoned &#8216;a clairvoyant friend&#8217; The couple seen in in a portrait [photo], in happier times. </strong></p>



<p>&#8216;After dragging her out of the toilet, Bishimbayev grabbed Nukenova by the throat and strangled her, causing her to lose consciousness,&#8217; he said.<br>The politician had been seen as a high-flyer in Kazakhstan, destined for greatness, with close ties to the country&#8217;s then president. <br>However, Bishimbayev was jailed for ten years on corruption charges in 2018 before a pardon by President Nazarbayev after serving less than two years.<br>Nazarbayev stepped down in 2019 in favor of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, his chosen successor.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kuandyk-Bishimbayev-and-his-wife-Saltanat-Nukenova-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461753" style="width:835px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Saltanat Nukenova [right], was found dead from a traumatic brain injury the next morning in one of the restaurant&#8217;s VIP cabins, according to local media. Her politician <strong>husband <strong> former economy minister, Kuandyk Bishimbaye</strong></strong>v [left], has been charged and convicted in her death, ruled a murder</strong></p>



<p>He then wed Nukenova, after divorcing his second wife Nazym Bishembayeva.<br>The couple met when she provided him with &#8216;astrological services&#8217;. They wed two months later, following his divorce, but the relationship was always tempestuous.<br>Reacting to the conviction, Bishimbayev&#8217;s ex-wife Nazym said: &#8216;It&#8217;s a tragedy…<br>&#8216;My sincere condolences to Saltanat&#8217;s family.<br>&#8216;I didn&#8217;t even grasp what happened when people started calling me.<br>&#8216;It&#8217;s so awful, it&#8217;s utter shock.&#8217;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Women-buying-flowers-in-Astana-Kazakhstan-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-461775" style="width:843px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>In a<strong> country has 100,000 registered cases of domestic violence annually, the</strong> high-profile trial involving the killing of Saltanat Nukenova has raised awareness of the epidemic of spousal abuse in <strong>Kazakhstan</strong></strong></p>



<p>Rallies were held in Kazakhstan against domestic violence highlighting the case.<br>The UN estimates some 400 women a year are killed in Kazakhstan in domestic violence crimes.<br>The country has 100,000 registered cases of domestic violence annually.<br>In the fallout of the &#8216;entitled reaction&#8217; of witnesses to the crime, the suspect&#8217;s cousin, Bakytzhan Baizhanov, was jailed for four years for failure to report a crime in progress.<br></p>

‘Why’ the jail sentence? – ‘I am guilty, but not of premeditated murder,’ former Kazakh minister who beat his wife to death in horrific eight-hour attack, asks court as he is sent to prison for 24 years
