MOSCOW: Kazakhstan’s Supreme Courtroom on Monday convicted a former authorities official of torturing and murdering his spouse and sentenced him to 24 years in jail in a case that has gripped the Central Asian nation. Throughout the trial of Kuandyk Bishimbayev, Kazakhstan‘s former financial system minister, over the dying of his spouse, Saltanat Nukenova, hundreds of individuals urged the authorities to undertake harsher penalties for home violence.Authorities adopted a invoice toughening spousal abuse legal guidelines.
Kazakhstan largely stays a patriarchal society, and progress has been sluggish on points comparable to home violence, sexual harassment and disparities in employment.
Bishimbayev’s trial was the primary within the nation of over 19 million individuals to be streamed on-line, and debates about it dominated social media.
Nukenova, 31, was discovered useless in November in a restaurant owned by one among her husband’s kinfolk. The 44-year-old Bishimbayev maintained his innocence earlier than admitting in court docket final month that he had overwhelmed her and “unintentionally” prompted her dying. His attorneys initially disputed medical proof indicating Nukenova died from blows to the pinnacle.
Bishimbayev’s relative, Bakhytzhan Baizhanov, was sentenced to 4 years in jail for serving to Bishimbayev cowl up the homicide.
Days after Nukenova’s dying, her kinfolk launched an internet petition urging authorities to cross “Saltanat’s Regulation” to bolster safety for these susceptible to home violence. It shortly acquired over 150,000 signatures. Because the trial started, greater than 5,000 Kazakhs wrote senators urging harder legal guidelines on abuse, Kazakh media stated.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly spoken about strengthening protections for ladies. In January, he intervened after the Justice Ministry refused to think about the petition by Nukenova’s household.
In accordance with a 2018 examine backed by UN Ladies, about 400 ladies die from home violence every year in Kazakhstan, though many circumstances go unreported.
In 2017, Kazakhstan decriminalised beatings and different acts inflicting “minor” bodily harm, making them punishable solely by fines or quick jail phrases. Kazakhstan has since reversed its regulation, rising penalties for assailants and introducing new legal offenses together with harassment of minors.
Senate Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev stated that correctly implementing the brand new regulation adopted within the wake of the trial would require “quite a lot of work,” together with academic campaigns in faculties and the media in addition to vigilance from civil society teams.
Kazakhstan largely stays a patriarchal society, and progress has been sluggish on points comparable to home violence, sexual harassment and disparities in employment.
Bishimbayev’s trial was the primary within the nation of over 19 million individuals to be streamed on-line, and debates about it dominated social media.
Nukenova, 31, was discovered useless in November in a restaurant owned by one among her husband’s kinfolk. The 44-year-old Bishimbayev maintained his innocence earlier than admitting in court docket final month that he had overwhelmed her and “unintentionally” prompted her dying. His attorneys initially disputed medical proof indicating Nukenova died from blows to the pinnacle.
Bishimbayev’s relative, Bakhytzhan Baizhanov, was sentenced to 4 years in jail for serving to Bishimbayev cowl up the homicide.
Days after Nukenova’s dying, her kinfolk launched an internet petition urging authorities to cross “Saltanat’s Regulation” to bolster safety for these susceptible to home violence. It shortly acquired over 150,000 signatures. Because the trial started, greater than 5,000 Kazakhs wrote senators urging harder legal guidelines on abuse, Kazakh media stated.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly spoken about strengthening protections for ladies. In January, he intervened after the Justice Ministry refused to think about the petition by Nukenova’s household.
In accordance with a 2018 examine backed by UN Ladies, about 400 ladies die from home violence every year in Kazakhstan, though many circumstances go unreported.
In 2017, Kazakhstan decriminalised beatings and different acts inflicting “minor” bodily harm, making them punishable solely by fines or quick jail phrases. Kazakhstan has since reversed its regulation, rising penalties for assailants and introducing new legal offenses together with harassment of minors.
Senate Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev stated that correctly implementing the brand new regulation adopted within the wake of the trial would require “quite a lot of work,” together with academic campaigns in faculties and the media in addition to vigilance from civil society teams.
