Ex-Kazakh minister gets 24 years in jail for murdering wife

The Star

A former economy minister of Kazakhstan was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Monday (May 13) for murdering his wife following a widely watched trial that some saw as a litmus test of the president's promise to strengthen women's rights.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 Kazakhstan's former economy minister has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for murdering

00:07 his wife. The widely watched trial, broadcast live over seven weeks, was seen by some as

00:14 a litmus test for the president's promise to strengthen women's rights.

00:19 44-year-old Kwandyk Bishimbayev was found guilty of torture and murder by the court.

00:26 CCTV footage captured Bishimbayev arguing with his 31-year-old wife, Saltanat Nukhanova,

00:33 on the night she died. During the trial, separate footage showed Bishimbayev punching and kicking

00:39 Nukhanova before dragging her by her hair into a room where she later died. Videos found

00:45 on his phone showed him insulting and humiliating a visibly bruised and bloodied Nukhanova over

00:50 the final hours before she lost consciousness.

00:54 Bishimbayev admitted to beating his wife, but said some of her injuries were self-inflicted.

01:00 He denied torturing or planning to murder her. Nukhanova's brother spoke after the verdict.

01:07 The trial has been widely regarded as an attempt by authorities to send a message that members

01:14 of the elite are no longer above the law. The case has helped rally public support behind

01:36 a law criminalizing domestic violence, which parliament passed last month. Government data

01:42 show that one in six women in Kazakhstan has experienced violence by a male partner.

01:47 The court has ruled that the defendant, Saltanat Nukhanova, is guilty of the crime of assaulting

01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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