Rakhat Aliyev

Aliyev fled to Austria when he was being investigated for the murder of the two Nurbank managers. Before he was arrested, he was quickly appointed the new Kazakh ambassador to Austria on 9 February 2007 as a polite way to get him out of the country. While in Austria, Aliyev announced his candidacy for the upcoming Kazakhstan elections and criticized the sitting Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev. A full domestic Kazakh investigation began in May 2007 into Aliyev's activities.[17]

As a result, his diplomatic passport was cancelled, as was his diplomatic immunity. Kazakhstan filed its first extradition request with Austria at this time. The domestic Kazak investigation concluded in January 2008 with Kazak courts sentencing Aliyev to 40 years of imprisonment in absentia. His crimes were kidnapping, treason and plotting a coup d'état against his father-in-law Nursultan Nazarbayev.[17]

According to reports, "Kazakhstan requested his extradition from Austria twice, but was denied on both accounts, since Austria was unsure that Aliyev would get a fair trial in his home country."[17]

He married Austrian citizen Elnara Shorazova and enjoyed free movement throughout Europe although being investigated on fraud charges in the Austria, Germany and Malta.[19] European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told reporters that the investigation on fraud charges was difficult because of the different criminal legislation within the European Union countries.[23]

According to reports, in November 2013 Aliyev tried to open a bank account in Cyprus with an invalid account which alerted authorities. The following January, two members of the European Parliament made public calls to the European Commissioner to get Eurojust and Europol to assist with the ongoing criminal investigations.[24]

In 2013, Aliyev's Austrian passport was canceled by the decision of Austrian Minister of Interior.[15] He allegedly wanted to obtain citizenship in Cyprus because it was becoming "too hot" in Malta because of all the investigations.[16]

Aliyev was arrested in June 2014 after he allegedly turned himself into authorities to cooperate with the murder investigation of the two bankers.[25] His lawyer confirmed the arrest and said it took place at 11pm on 5 June 2014 on his way to the airport.[17]

Aliyev denied all charges against him. According to reports, he claimed that he was prosecuted by the Kazakh government and think people after him are "in bed with Kazakhstan."[25] According to an interview, he said that "criminal accusations that the regime has tried to hang on him are all fiction."[29] He also said in the same interview that all the charges were "made up primarily by the leadership of the National Security Committee, the prosecutor general, the interior minister, and the whole power bloc of ministries.[29]

He said that all his trials and sentencing were politically motivated and told newspapers that he would be willing to appear in Austrian courts, but feared that he would be kidnapped.[19]

He also reportedly called the lawyer, Gabriel Lansky, who had been helping the bankers' widows and their campaigns to bring justice, as "fronts of the Kazakh regime."[19] Aliyev was reported to have circulated forgeries of documents to defame those he sees as critics, including former British prime minister Tony Blair, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, former Austrian chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and current President Heinz Fischer, former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, and former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder[30]

On 9 February 2007, President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Aliyev as Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Austria and Permanent Representative to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and other international organizations in Vienna. The move occurred days after Aliyev became embroiled in a controversy over the disappearance of two former executives of the Kazakh bank Nurbank. 6 February 2007 the Financial police said they were investigating two former managers (both resigned from their position on 22 January 2007) of Nurbank on suspicion of fraud. After the permission of President Nazarbayev to Kazakh law enforcement bodies to investigate this criminal case “without regard for rank”, Aliyev was accused of abduction and extortion at the end of May 2007. On 22 May, Nursultan Nazarbayev signed constitutional amendments that effectively allow him to become president-for-life, a move denounced by the opposition. Aliyev joined the chorus of critics, saying the amendments threaten to torpedo Kazakhstan's OSCE chairmanship bid. Aliyev accused Nazarbayev of "de facto usurping" power. Following Aliyev's denial and claims that he had fallen victim to political repression, Nazarbayev on 26 May issued decree No. 333 stripping his son-in-law of all official positions. Two days later, the Interior Ministry issued a new statement saying an international arrest warrant had been issued and investigators had been dispatched to Vienna, site of the OSCE's headquarters, to nab him. The new statement said charges involving criminal association, economic crimes, and kidnapping had been brought against Aliyev. 26 May 2007, Rakhat Aliyev was relieved of his position as Ambassador to Austria and stripped of his diplomatic immunity.

Rakhat Aliyev was also accused of kidnapping a Russian TV executive working in Kazakhstan, Artyom Mikoyan, in the mid-1990s. and locked Mikoyan up in a basement where he kept him and said to Mikoyan that if he will give him all of the money that he made from his position (estimated 20 million), he will release and to tell no one about the incident. Artem Mikoyan fortunately managed to escape from Aliyev to Moscow and never to come back to Kazakhstan again.

On 30 May, the Kazakh government formally asked Austria to arrest Aliyev for kidnapping and extradite him to Kazakhstan. Arrest warrants were being issued for others in the inner circle of this once-powerful man. On 30 May 2007 his diplomatic immunity was removed. In a statement, Aliyev described the charges as absurd and said he was the victim of a political witch-hunt. On 7 August 2007 a Vienna court rejected a request from Kazakhstan to extradite Aliyev and ruled against extraditing the son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was wanted on charges of kidnapping. The court said the Rakhat Aliyev would not be given a fair trial in his home country and his human rights could not be guaranteed if he were sent back home.

A criminal case against Aliyev and his accomplices ended in mid January 2008: abduction of three top managers of Nurbank in January 2007, the whereabouts of two of them is still unknown, and formation of an organized criminal group found guilty in raiding and document forgery. Almaty district court of Almaty sentenced Aliyev in absentia to 20 years in a high security prison with confiscation of property in this abduction case. The court also sentenced other people to lengthy prison terms. At the end of March 2008 Akmola Garrison Military Court found Rakhat Aliyev as a key person involved in preparations for a coup d'état and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment.[31] Aliyev's sidekick Musayev, the ex- KNB chief, was also sentenced to 20 years of prison term. Aliyev and Musayev were found guilty under the following articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Article 168, Section 1 "Seizure of power through violence," Article 235, Section 4 "Formation and heading of an organized criminal group," Article 172, Section 4 "Illegal acquisition, disclosure of state secrets," Article 176, Section 3 "Embezzlement of some other's property," Article 251, Section 3 "Illegal trafficking of arms, ammunition and explosives," Article 255, Section 4 "Stealing of ammunition and explosives" as well as Article 380, Section 2 "Abuse of powers."

On 17 June 2011, the Vienna Provincial Court for Criminal Matters rejected a second request for extradition by Kazakhstan because it was not free from doubt that Mr Aliyev would not be persecuted on political grounds in Kazakhstan.[32] Kazakhstan requested extradition to enforce the previously rendered convictions by the Almaty district court and the Akmola Military Court (see above).

In 2013, Aliyev published a book Godfather-in-law, in which he accused Nazarbayev of being responsible for the murders of the opposition leaders.[29]

On 13 June 2007, Aliyev was divorced from his wife, Dariga. He claimed that the divorce was carried out without his knowledge or consent.[33]

"Today I received the information where it says I am divorced," Aliyev said Monday. "They stuck a fax with the information through the fence at my home at a quarter past midnight. ... They even falsified my signature on the document."

Aliyev had three children with Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, Dariga. "I spoke to my wife on the telephone," Aliyev said, showing papers saying his wife had asked for the divorce. "She said: 'My father pressured me very much,' and she couldn't do anything."

Their son Aisultan Nazarbaev (Russian: Айсултан Назарбаев; 26 August 1990 – 16 August 2020) became an outspoken critic of Nursultan Nazarbayev.[34][35] He stated that he did not inherit his father's wealth because his father's wealth was stolen by Dariga and Alnur Mussayev also spelled Alnur Musaev (Russian: Альнур Мусаев).[34]

Their son Nurali Aliyev (Russian: Нурали Алиев; b. 1 January 1985) is involved in finance and banking as an executive with Nurbank JSC (Russian: АО «Нурбанк») from March 2006 to July 2010 and since 1 June 2009 becoming a majority shareholder of Nurbank with a 56.38% stake held jointly with Dariga.[36][37][38] Nurali Aliyev was named in the Panama Papers as having vast amounts of wealth held in offshore companies through Alba International and the Baltimore Alliance which are registered in the British Virgin Islands.[39][40][41][42] In the spring of 2020, a United Kingdom court in London ordered him to prove the legal origin of over $100 million of his wealth associated with three firms registered in Panama, Netherlands Antilles, and Anguilla.[43][44][45] He is married to Aida Berikovna (Russian: Аида Бериковна Имашева; b. 1984) who is the daughter of Berik Imashev.

On 23 June 2018, their daughter Venus (Russian: Венера; b. 2001) married Dalen Chaizhunusov (Russian: Дален Чайжунусов; b. 1995-1996, Almaty), a graduate of the Law Faculty at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.[46][47][48]

Aliyev married his assistant, Elnara Shorazova, who held an Austrian passport, and assumed the masculine form of her surname, Shoraz, as his own name. The two fled to Malta, where the Maltese government seized their assets in connection with European money-laundering allegations in March 2014.[49] Aliyev surrendered to Austrian authorities in June 2014.[50][51] He and Elnara have a son.[46]

On 24 February 2015, on the 40th Day after death of his father,[52] Rakhat Aliyev was found dead in the solitary cell of his Vienna prison. According to the official, Aliyev apparently committed suicide by hanging himself. However, his attorney, Klaus Ainedter, said he was highly suspicious of the death and expected a thorough investigation. "I have significant doubts about this without wanting to blame anyone. I visited him yesterday. There could be no talk whatsoever of danger of suicide," Ainedter said.[53][54] The Federal Ministry of Justice (Austria) has officially confirmed the fact of Rakhat Aliyev's suicide in his prison cell.[55] Thereafter Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan reported that the law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Kazakhstan insisted on their participation in the investigation into the death of Aliyev.[56] A 2016 independent report ruled out suicide and noted that his body showed traces of suffocation.[57]

In 2006, Aliyev called for the creation of a “British-style” constitutional monarchy in Kazakhstan, believing it would bring stability and liberal democracy to the nation. Aliyev argued that in adopting a republican form of government when it gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed, Kazakhstan defied its traditions.[58]

• "Kazakhstan cracks down on press freedom on eve of leading OSCE" Luke Harding, The Guardian, 29 December 2009
• JusticeForNovikova.com
• RakhatAliyev.com Archived 2014-09-14 at the Wayback Machine
• Anastasiya Novikova's Story
• en.tagdyr.net/