Some people have almost everything from birth, but always strive to get even more. Some of them end their lives in solitary confinement in an Austrian prison. Yes, this is similar to the plot of a soap opera, but sometimes life breaks away and are not such “rings”. Ideal confirmation - Rakhat Aliyev, former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nazarbayev. He lived an amazing life. However, even his death left many questions, many of which still have no answers. Until now, many in Kazakhstan themselves believe that this was the murder of Rakhat Aliyev.
How did it happen that a candidate for the post of president of the former republic of the USSR suddenly turned into a loner languishing in a prison cell? Can we extract some instructive information from the history of its rise and subsequent fall? I guess, yes. Rakhat Aliyev, who was found hanged in his cell, in many ways reached this end himself. But many traits of his character were formed in those conditions that were characteristic exclusively for the Central Asian republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union.
Kazakhs themselves are uniquely related to Aliyev’s personality. Those who are interested in politics remember perfectly well the fate of the members of the Nurbank management, the rest can recall the fact that it was the presidential son-in-law who practically ruined all Kazakh football. The time that he spent as chairman of the football association is described there as the "era of bribes." Money from the budget allocated for the development of the national team disappeared without a trace, equipment was not purchased, sports facilities were not built or repaired.
Unpleasant features
Kazakhstan is the first former Soviet republic by income. It has a developed oil and gas industry and very high GDP per capita. It is not surprising that foreign investment flows into the state. Investors are also very interested in the development of the banking industry, which allows you to make huge profits. One of the key figures in his time was Zholdas Timraliev. He served as chief deputy president of Nurbank.
This institution gave his son-in-law a "godfather". Rakhat Aliyev, as the Kazakh investigation now claims, shamelessly robbed a bank, withdrawing huge amounts to offshore. By doing so, he caused serious damage not only to the economy of his country, but also to the reputation of the bank, which, due to unscrupulous actions by its leadership, seriously diminished foreign investors. Not even the patronage of Nazarbayev himself helped.
This was not a secret before: in Kazakhstan, this institution was known not only as the largest state bank, but also as a financial “pocket” owned by Rakhat Aliyev. But only foreigners could afford to joke about it openly, since the Kazakhs themselves fully understood the consequences. Zholdas Timraliev also knew about this. In 2006, he was "on horseback" and could count on a bright future, but circumstances turned out differently. Rumor has it that Zholdas once wanted to escape from his native country … He did not have time.
In 2007, he deliberately guilty of his boss. The details of that story are unknown, but simply no one can find out better. For the first time, Timraliev was lucky because he came alive from the presidential son-in-law. As he later told his wife and the investigation, Aliyev personally tied him to a sports simulator. And then he beat him. Also personally. The second meeting was much less successful. It is not clear what exactly Rakhat Aliyev wanted, but Zholdas’s career ended there. After that visit, no one else saw him alive.
Mysterious deaths, terrible murders …
Investigators found that the main requirement was a re-registration of all the property of Zholdas in the name of Rakhat. What is characteristic, as a result of torture or threats, he did this, further enriching Aliyev. That's just the life of Zholdas that did not save: until the end of 2011 the police had no idea where his body was resting. The main person involved in the case at that time lived comfortably in Austria, and therefore they could only reveal the secret by chance. At the end of the year, a terrifying find shocked the neighborhood of Alma-Ata: two barrels in which terribly mutilated fragments of two bodies floated. It turned out that it was Zholdas Timraliev and Aybar Khasenov himself, the supply manager of the ill-fated Nurbank. He disappeared at the same time.
The investigation immediately reminded Aliyev that in the recent past he was suspected of direct involvement in the murder of journalist Anastasia Novikova. Aliyev’s former mistress was simply thrown from the ninth floor right onto the rods of reinforcement sticking out of the ground. After that monstrous murder, many Kazakhs did not doubt the "authorship" of the customer, but preferred to remain silent. Initially, they tried to expose the case as suicide, but there were several unpleasant oddities.
Firstly, Nastya was shaved bald. Secondly, traces of cruel torture were found on her body. Thirdly, a huge dose of psychotropic drugs was found in the blood of the murdered woman (and there was no doubt before), which ordinary mortals simply do not have access to.
The beginning of the fall
A chain reaction was launched, which led to a loud fall of the presidential son-in-law. Armangul Kapasheva, wife of the tragically dead Timraliev, loved her husband. She in every possible way turned away from those "well-wishers" who generally advised to forget about the person who existed in her life and "live on." It is not clear how the woman did not disappear on her own, but she managed to achieve her goal. Despite the frank slipping of the investigation, the investigation of Timraliev’s disappearance was nevertheless taken up closely.
Rakhat Aliyev himself, whose biography is considered on the pages of this article, then avoided trouble. But 17 people from his inner circle were promptly sent to the bunk. Aliyev (who by that time had become ambassador to Austria) took the standard step in such cases: he loudly announced to the whole world that he had “suffered for democratic values” and asked to save him from “political persecution”. Other events were reflected in the press of those times. Nazarbayev Dariga, who was Aliyev’s wife, divorced him right away. In 2008, a district court of Alma-Ata sentenced the ex-head of Nurbank not only to confiscate all property, but also to twenty years in a maximum security colony.
At that moment, the sweet life of the former presidential son-in-law ended: he instantly lost all his money, his accounts were frozen, and his “friends” instantly turned away from their former comrade. Since 2009, he was officially known under the name of Rakhat Shoraz, since Aliyev took the name of his second wife.
Features of Austrian justice
How could a man like Rakhat Aliyev end up in jail? His biography was not too joyful: a new country and a new family of happiness did not bring him happiness. In 2014, the Kazakh authorities petitioned for his extradition from Austria. Rightly fearing a not-too-warm welcome at home, he himself surrendered to the Austrians, wanting a “democratic trial” and imprisonment in a convenient cell in a Vienna prison … It is unlikely that he hoped for such an end, but after a couple of months the former presidential son-in-law was found in the noose.
However, it would hardly have occurred to Aliyev himself to blame the Austrians themselves. Since the beginning of that epic, the government of Kazakhstan has aggressively "bombarded" Austria with demands for the extradition of a runaway diplomat and murderer. But the government of the European "democratic" country constantly found reasons for refusal. They all blamed it on the lack of that “democracy”: supposedly in Kazakhstan they would not be able to "impartially" deal with the Aliyev case. Tolerant Austrians preferred not to recall the fact that he was involved in the terrible death of several people.
Even the "godfather-in-law" could not save the situation. Rakhat Aliyev continued to give vicious interviews about his “struggle for the ideals of democracy”, not forgetting to “rinse” Nazarbayev himself. The role of a political martyr in the modern world is very much appreciated!
Book as a weapon
Back in 2009, the book “The Godfather” of Rakhat Aliyev was released. In it, Aliyev, by then recognized as the “head of the Kazakh opposition, ” revealed many facts that, in fact, represent the state secret of the country. Including, on its pages you can find fragments of secret telephone conversations and business correspondence. The author paid a lot of attention to Nursultan Nazarbayev himself, presenting him in an extremely unfavorable light. It is not surprising that the book was immediately banned in the country.
Many politicians have no doubt that the publication of this material is one of the links in the events that occurred after the removal of the US base Manas from Kyrgyzstan and the attempted coup d'etat there. The fact is that Nazarbayev then formally defended the President of Kyrgyzstan in response to the attacks of the "democratic" states of Europe and the USA. It was very beneficial for someone to create incriminating evidence against him … It was a kind of “self-liberation” of Rakhat Aliyev, when an unclean diplomat tried to “fly” again, bleached at the expense of his political rivals and even his father-in-law, to whom he owed everything. Someone may say that Aliyev had reasons to attack him …
Do not judge, and you will not be judged
Of course, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is not an angel with a halo over his head. In general, like all people. Almost all domestic and foreign political scientists agree on one thing: Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation are very lucky that after the collapse of the USSR, it was this person who headed the former republic. He did not send his country on a “voyage” through the stormy waters of the civil war, as happened in Tajikistan, and did not massacre dissenters and foreigners, as happened in Uzbekistan. Actually, even the spiteful critics agree that he is far from the personality cult of the Turkmenbashi.
All other countries of the Central Asian region (with rare exceptions) turned into total dictatorships with a bias in medieval feudalism. Nazarbayev managed to prevent this. Kazakhstan is one of the few countries in the region where there is a well-to-do middle class, where political rivals are not sent to forever rot in prison, and forest trips with one-way tickets are not arranged for them. They act in a civilized manner, beating them in the political arena. It is not surprising that those forces that advocate a total destabilization of the geopolitical situation in the world are very unhappy with this circumstance.
How it all began
But the beginning of Aliyev’s life did not foretell the metamorphosis that had happened to him. He was born in December 1962. His father was Mukhtar Aliyev, a wonderful physician, academician and honored citizen of the Kazakh Republic. The boy received an excellent education, grew curious and seriously prepared for the career of a professional doctor, deciding to continue his father’s business. Even skeptics admit that Rakhat Aliyev and Dariga Nazarbayev at one time really converged on love and their marriage was real.
She herself recalled that she first met her future husband before the most crucial exam. Rahat then came to the next room with his friends. Dariga did not wait for anyone, and therefore she went to the disheveled door, with eyes puffy and reddened from sleepless nights. And at that moment I saw a young green-eyed man. She admitted that at that moment she firmly understood: "Something will definitely happen." Indeed, soon from their union came the son of Rakhat Aliyev, Nurali.
The case took place in the mid-80s in Moscow. Like many in the post-Soviet space, Rakhat decided to quit medicine in the midst of the difficult 90s and do business. At that time no one spoke badly of him. He was not yet transformed into a man whom they had feared to death in Kazakhstan. At that time, Rakhat Aliyev and Dariga Nazarbayeva were a loving couple, life was hard, but everyone looked to the future with hope.
What caused the “rebirth”?
What triggered such a sad outcome? Most likely, the matter is not only in the personal qualities of this person, which were hidden for the time being. They developed for the simple reason that all the necessary conditions were created for them.
Features of Central Asian politics
The fact is that modern Kazakhstan is a country in which much depends on the first person of the state. In fact, there is one really effective political “institution” - the president. And this is quite expected, based on the mentality of the nationalities that live in the state. The same circumstance automatically puts the president at the center of the situation when a huge amount of intrigue constantly exists around him. Surely Rakhat Aliyev, whose photo is in the article, was far from the first of the close associates who spoke poorly. How can one figure out who is really to blame and who is only being blamed? This is very difficult to do, if at all possible.
This situation inevitably leads to the fact that the ruling elite relies on their own family and people close to it. If even such people cannot be trusted, then who can you rely on in this world at all !? In a word, everything turned out to the expected corny. If in a country the only significant capital is full trust on the part of the leadership, who could Nursultan Nazarbayev put the burden of responsibility on? Rakhat Aliyev was not only a loyal son-in-law, but also a man with a good past and a good family … Unfortunately, this did not help him resist the many temptations that this situation gave him.
Why did the security services react so late
It has long been known that money that comes easily and is not earned by one’s labor easily corrupts people. Presidential trust and authority became the straw that broke the camel's back in this case. The further, the stronger the Kazakh business felt what kind of person Rakhat Aliyev was. Whether he was killed in an Austrian prison or whether he hanged himself doesn’t change matters: very many companies in a neighboring country, after his flight from Kazakhstan, breathed much more freely.
Why did his antics so long remain without Nazarbayev’s attention? Where were the special services that were simply obliged to report to the first person of the state about those dark affairs that his son-in-law was engaged in? In many respects, the answer lies in the fact that not everyone can say something bad about those people whom Nazarbayev considers to be part of his family. But the reason is not only that. It would be naive to believe that Aliyev had not done any serious work in the power structures, having seated all his proteges in all the responsible posts. They easily dropped into a long box any facts obtained by their subordinates. We have revealed one more circumstance above - leading people almost every day are told something unpleasant about their close associates. Not all information in this case can be trusted.
It was the combination of all these factors that led to the emergence of Aliyev in the form in which enemies and opponents in the vastness of Kazakhstan were mortally afraid of him. As a person, he died, but as a phenomenon, unfortunately, he lives. Speaking of his death. What arguments suggest that Rakhat Aliyev hanged himself far from outside help?
