The scene is worthy of a gangster film. On the night of November 8, in a posh restaurant in the capital Astana, privatized that evening, a couple argued. Violently. The 31-year-old woman was beaten to death by her husband, who finished her off with a blow to the head. The husband immediately tries to cover up the murder with the help of his cousin, called to the rescue to hide the body and erase the images from the surveillance cameras. But the accomplices are finally caught by the police, who then realize they have been caught: the author of the crime is none other than the former Minister of the Economy Kuandyk Bichimbaev, owner of the restaurant! This crooked “golden-boy” had already been sentenced to ten years in prison for corruption in 2018, but pardoned in extremis in 2019 by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, just before the latter’s resignation. He is now accused of murder, and faces a sentence of eight to fifteen years in prison.
This news item of incredible violence moved the entire country. And reveals the extent of a scourge, that of violence against women in Kazakhstan – including within the country’s elite. In this Central Asian republic populated by less than 20 million inhabitants, 400 feminicides like this take place each year, according to United Nations estimates. In 2022, more than 100,000 cases of domestic violence were reported, according to the Interior Ministry.
Decriminalized violence
The legal saga promises to be a long one for Kuandyk Bichimbaev, and leaves no one indifferent. The head of state himself, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev, reacted, affirming that “the law must be the same for everyone”. But what law are we talking about when it comes to punishing violence against women, prior to feminicide? In 2017, the Kazakh Parliament removed the article on “deliberate harm to health” and “assault” from the Criminal Code in order to transfer it to the administrative code. In other words, domestic violence is decriminalized and is now punishable by a simple fine and possibly ten days of detention.
“This legislative change was based on an intention to encourage women to better report abuse, the latter previously fearing inflicting too heavy a sentence on their attacker… But it is completely unsuccessful!, criticizes Khalida Azhigulova, law researcher public international. On the contrary, we have seen a significant increase in domestic violence since 2017.”
Freedom of speech
The feminicide of Saltanat Nukenova nevertheless raised awareness about this endemic problem. Rakhim Ochakbayev, director of the independent think tank Talap, in Almaty, is the author of a petition published in 2021 to toughen sanctions against abuse in the private sphere. Obtaining only 5,000 signatures in two years, it reached 150,000 supporters in a few weeks after the murder of the young woman. All this is accompanied by a wave of freedom of speech never seen before: in universities especially, many students testify to the harassment and sexual violence they experience there. On social networks, the hashtag #TiredOfTolerating is enjoying growing success, like Western #MeToo a few years ago.
The word is also being raised in the world of cinema. The film Baqyt (Happiness, in Kazakh), well received in Kazakhstan and awarded at the 2022 Berlinale, painfully echoes current events. It tells the story of two couples, that of a mother and her daughter, where the men rape their wives with impunity. Anna Katchko, co-producer of the film, nevertheless specifies L’Express “that due to the delicate subject, the project was not able to receive public subsidies”.
Obviously, the Kazakh state is not keen to support this awareness. On the contrary, it represses feminist activists “whom it considers a direct political threat”, according to researcher Khalida Azhigulova. President of NeMolchi (Don’t be silent!), the country’s main feminist organization, Dinara Smaïlova is the target of several investigations for tax fraud, which she denounces as “arbitrary harassment”. And like every year, the feminist march on March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, will once again be banned by the authorities, who confine it to a simple “rally”. As if the government feared that a #MeToo wave would gain momentum on its soil.
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