The Specialized Inter-District Court in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, on August 29 sentenced the already imprisoned ex-wife of a convicted nephew of the country’s former President, Nursultan Nazarbaev, to 12 years in prison, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported. Gulmira Satybaldy was found guilty of forcibly holding her relative and former business partner Abai Zhunusov in isolation against his
A Bishkek court on August 8 handed a seven-year prison term with a one-year suspension to Maya Alieva, who is the mother of late criminal kingpin Kamchy Kolbaev, on a charge of money laundering, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported. Alieva’s lawyer said his client will not be imprisoned at all if she does not violate her parole-like restrictions
Following unprecedented mob violence targeting foreign students from South Asia in Kyrgyzstan, around 1,200 Pakistani students at the Bishkek-based Kyrgyzstan International University have left the Central Asian nation, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported. University Rector Asylbek Aidaraliev told reporters on May 20 that mainly first-year and second-year students had left the country, though some students remain in Kyrgyzstan
The Kyrgyz government said 29 people were injured, including three foreigners, in mob violence in Bishkek on the night of May 17-18 that appeared to be directed against foreign students and migrants, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported. The violence prompted diplomatic reactions from Pakistan and India, who warned their students in Bishkek to remain indoors. The
A court in Astana on May 13 sentenced former Economy Minister Quandyq Bishimbaev to 24 years in prison for the “violent beating” to death of his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, in November 2023 in a local restaurant. Bishimbaev’s cousin Baqytzhan Baizhanov was sentenced to four years in prison for not reporting the crime, which he witnessed
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on April 15 signed into law amendments and additions to legislative acts and the code on administrative offenses to ensure the rights of women and the safety of children. The amendments were passed by Kazakhstan’s parliament on April 11. The new legislation introduces criminal liability for beatings and intentional infliction of
Raimbek Matraimov, the former deputy chief of Kyrgyzstan’s Customs Service, was placed in pretrial detention for at least one month on March 27, a day after being extradited from Azerbaijan, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported. The Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek ruled that Matraimov must stay in the detention center of the State Committee for National Security
A court in Uzbekistan has sentenced influential crime boss Salim Abduvaliev to six years in prison on charges of illegal possession and transportation of arms and explosives, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reported. The 73-year-old Abduvaliev, who is also known as Salimboi, was sentenced last week, according to Tashkent courts’ joint press service. Abduvaliev is believed to
The Tashkent City Court sentenced 23 people — including an Indian national — to prisons terms of up to 20 years after a cough syrup imported into Uzbekistan from India killed 68 children in 2022, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reported. In reading out the court’s verdict on February 26, the judge said Indian national Ragvendra Pradar, who is
The trial of 14 people accused in the murder of Shohrat Ismattuloev, deputy chairman of Tajikistan’s Orienbank, has started. According to information obtained by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, the trial is taking place in a temporary detention center behind closed doors. Ismattuloev’s body was found on August 15, two months after his abduction from Dushanbe. Security
