Murder trial seen as test of Kazakh leader's pledge on women's rights

The trial of a former government minister charged with beating his wife to death has gripped public attention in Kazakhstan, and some see it as a litmus test of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s promise to build a fairer, more equitable society.

Shocking footage played in the courtroom this week showed Kuandyk Bishimbayev, a former economy minister, repeatedly kicking and punching a slender young woman wearing only a coat and boots, and dragging her around by her hair.

The woman, 31-year-old Saltanat Nukenova, was found dead last November in a restaurant owned by a relative of her husband, where the couple had spent almost a whole day and the previous night. She had been unconscious for hours.

According to a coroner’s report, Nukenova died from brain trauma. One of her nasal bones was broken and there were multiple bruises on her face, head, arms and hands.

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In 2017 Kazakhstan decriminalised domestic violence, making it punishable mainly by fines, a move critics say has only discouraged women from lower-income families from reporting it.