The CCTV footage shown at the domestic abuse trial was disturbing: The defendant is seen dragging his wife by her hair, and then punching and kicking her. Hours after it was recorded, she died of brain trauma.
The trial of businessman Kuandyk Bishimbayev, Kazakhstan’s former economy minister, in the death of his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, has touched a nerve in the Central Asian country. Tens of thousands of people have signed petitions calling for harsher penalties for domestic violence.
On April 11, senators approved a bill toughening spousal abuse laws, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed it four days later. It’s been dubbed “Saltanat’s Law” in her honor.
Kazakhs are riveted by Bishimbayev’s trial, the first in the country of over 19 million people to be streamed online, and debates about it are dominating social media. Many see it as a moment of truth for Tokayev’s promises of reforms and making officials accountable.
The 44-year-old Bishimbayev, …