Nazarbayev's son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev. Rakhat Aliyev

So the current Ukrainian powers that be may soon have to pay official visits, for example, to the new President of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov (he, together with the “Kulibayev clan” behind him, may be perceived by the West as a lesser evil than the same Dariga Nursultanovna , whose appointment as a successor will cause talk of nepotism, and reminders of the methods by which her late husband made his way to power, and her statements that will shock even the people of Kazakhstan). But the path to the Office of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Leader of the Nation, established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, should be found out. It is possible that by providing the opportunity to rest, Leonid Kuchma, who was very tired of the “Minsk process”: at one time he had good relations with Elbasy.

However, the likelihood that Nazarbayev will change his mind about giving up power even at the very last moment is quite high. This is exactly what authoritarian rulers most often did.

The family history of the Nazarbayev clan is perhaps the key to understanding the political situation in modern Kazakhstan. For more than twenty years, since Soviet times, Rakhat Aliyev was married to the daughter of the country's president, Nursultan. She quite successfully made a political career at the turn of the century: first she headed the largest media holding in the country, Khabar, and at the beginning of the 2000s she became chairman political party"Asar".

During this period, Nazarbayev relied on the classic two-party system. True, it was “sovereign democracy with Kazakh specifics”: the daughter opposed her father and his Otan party. Despite the fact that there could be no doubt about loyalty to Nazarbayev personally, the opposition to his party from Dariga and her associates was quite serious.

Her husband worked abroad - as the country's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Austria, and also represented the interests of Kazakhstan in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Kazakh experts considered her husband’s foreign business trip to be one of the ways to moderate Dariga’s ambitions so that the circle of her own supporters would not become excessively stronger. Moreover, before that he held high positions as first deputy head of the country’s National Security Committee and head of the president’s personal security.

By 2006, the career of Nazarbayev’s daughter began to decline: her party was forced to merge with the presidential party, she was left the post of deputy chairman, and later, together with several close associates, she was completely excluded from the united political force. This happened against the backdrop of a flaring scandal with Aliyev, whom the republic’s investigative authorities accused of kidnapping the heads of one of the country’s largest banks, Nurbank, for the purpose of extortion. According to investigators, Aliyev and his accomplice tortured top managers for two days; two of the three victims disappeared.

In May 2007, Nazarbayev was removed from all posts by a special decree; later he was deprived of awards and high titles. On the same day, Aliyev announced his transition to the opposition and his intention to fight for the presidency. Kazakh law enforcement officers failed to detain the president’s son-in-law, who was in Vienna.

A few weeks later, it became known about Dariga Nazarbayeva’s divorce from Rakhat Aliyev, although information initially appeared that she allegedly supported her husband.

“There are really a lot of rumors,” the president’s daughter said then. - I can confirm only one thing - about divorce. This is a difficult ordeal for my family. I will only add that on my part it was a hard-fought and conscious choice.” A few years later, when asked by Kazakh journalists whether she was dating her ex-husband, Dariga answered negatively.

Aliyev himself claimed that he learned about the divorce by fax with the appropriate notification. All this gave rise to rumors that the decision to divorce was made at the insistence of Nazarbayev. By the way, several of Aliyev’s relatives in power structures soon after his disgrace hurried to resign.

Former son-in-law of Nursultan Nazarbayev Rakhat Aliyev//Photo: Shamil Dzhumatov/Reuters

As a political exile former ambassador stayed until June last year, when he was arrested by Austrian law enforcement agencies, and he appeared voluntarily in the Vienna court. According to the Prosecutor General's Office of Kazakhstan, the basis for this was the materials of the investigation into the disappearance of former employees of Nurbank. In Kazakhstan itself, back in 2008, he was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison.

By that time, she had come out of the shadows and, possibly, disgrace and returned to big politics. Last April, she was unanimously elected vice-speaker of the Majilis (lower house of parliament) and received the post of head of the Nur Otan presidential faction. This led to renewed talk that the president’s daughter could lay claim, if not to the role of his successor, then at least to participation in the division of her father’s political inheritance.

Aliyev's death occurred literally a few days after the announcement that presidential elections in Kazakhstan would be held this year. Aliyev, obviously, could not take part in the race, but he posed a certain risk to the authorities.

It is worth noting that the book “Godfather-in-law” published by him in 2009, which contains extensive incriminating evidence on the President of Kazakhstan and his entourage, is prohibited from publication in Kazakhstan, and criminal liability is provided for its distribution and illegal import into the country.

The lawyer of the deceased has already doubted the version of suicide. “We hope that this death will be investigated in detail and its cause will be clearly established,” lawyer Manfred Einedter told the Austrian newspaper Kurier.

A few weeks ago, Aliyev, who was being held in Vienna's central prison in the Josefstadt district, was transferred from a three-person cell to a solitary cell due to threats to his life. The prison management classified him as a “green” category of prisoners who did not pose a danger to themselves or others. Aliyev was left alone in the cell; there was no video surveillance of him in the shower or toilet.

At the same time, pro-government Kazakh experts are already pointing out that Aliyev’s death can be used to discredit Nazarbayev, while he has not posed any real danger to him for a long time.

The former son-in-law of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Rakhat Mukhtarovich Aliyev, was born on December 10, 1962 in Almaty.

In 1986 he graduated from the Alma-Ata State Medical Institute with a degree in surgeon, in 1997 - the Adilet Higher School of Law, specialty - lawyer. Trained at the US FBI Academy (1997). Doctor of Medical Sciences.

After graduating from the institute, he worked as a laboratory assistant at the Kazakh Research Institute of Surgery; in 1986-1989 - clinical resident, graduate student of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute; in 1989-1993 - senior, leading researcher at the Kazakh Research Institute of Surgery.

In 1993, Aliyev became deputy head of the department of foreign economic relations of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan.

In 1993-1995, he held the position of General Director of the foreign trade company "KazMedImport" under the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations of Kazakhstan.

In 1995 he became general director JV "RR Kazakhstan - Trade and Finance Ltd." and president of the Sugar Center holding.

In December 1996, Aliyev left the business, becoming first deputy head of the main department of tax police of the State Tax Committee of Kazakhstan and head of the department for combating corruption and smuggling. In April 1997, he took the position of head of the tax police department of Almaty, in November 1997 - director of the tax police department of the Ministry of Finance.

In October 1998, Aliyev became chairman of the Tax Police Committee and first vice minister of state revenues of Kazakhstan.

In September 1999, he was appointed head of the department of the National Security Committee (NSC) for Almaty and the Alma-Ata region, in July 2000 - deputy chairman of the NSC, and in May 2001 - first deputy chairman of the KNS.

In November 2001, Rakhat Aliyev was appointed deputy head of the security service of the President of Kazakhstan, and in January 2002, president of the National Olympic Committee.

In the spring of 2002, he took up the positions of Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria (concurrently, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Serbia and Montenegro) and the country’s representative in the OSCE and a number of others international organizations, accredited in Vienna.

In July 2005, Aliyev became the first deputy minister of foreign affairs of Kazakhstan, and at the same time, since August 2005, the special representative of Kazakhstan on cooperation with the OSCE.

In February 2007, Aliyev was again appointed Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria and the country's representative to international organizations in Vienna.

At the beginning of 2007, Rakhat Aliyev found himself at the center of a scandal surrounding one of the leading banks in Kazakhstan, Nurbank. It was believed that Aliyev was trying to secure control of the bank. In May 2007, a criminal case was opened against Aliyev on charges of kidnapping Nurbank top managers Zholdas Timraliev and Aibar Khasenov.

Aliyev was dismissed from all government posts and put on the international wanted list. He was detained by the Austrian police, but was soon released on bail and on his own recognizance. After this, he asked the Austrian authorities not to extradite him to his homeland and to grant him Austrian citizenship. In August 2007, an Austrian court refused to extradite Aliyev to the Kazakh authorities because, according to the court, Aliyev could not be guaranteed an objective hearing in his homeland.

Aliyev was sentenced in absentia by a Kazakh court to 20 years in prison for the kidnapping of top managers of Nurbank (Article 125, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan). It was also reported about the upcoming consideration by the military court of the Akmola garrison of the second criminal case against Aliyev and the ex-chairman of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan Alnur Musayev on charges of creating and leading an organized criminal group of sixteen people.

On March 25, 2008, by the military court of the Akmola garrison, Rakhat Aliyev was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in a maximum security colony with confiscation. He was found guilty of abuse of power and official position (Article 380, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan), theft of state property on a large scale (Article 176, Part 3, clauses “a”, “b”), creation and management of an organized criminal group (Article 235, part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan), theft of firearms and ammunition (Article 255, part 4, paragraph "a" of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan), their illegal storage and transportation (Article 251 , Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan), illegal receipt and disclosure of state secrets (Article 172, Part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan), actions aimed at the violent seizure of power (Article 168, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).

In June 2011, after law enforcement agencies In Kazakhstan, the remains of Nurbank top managers Zholdas Timraliev and Aibar Khasenov, who disappeared in 2007, were found; Aliyev was charged in absentia with their murder.

A Vienna court in June 2011 refused to extradite Aliyev to Kazakhstan.

In January 2014, the Kazakh prosecutor's office filed a petition to initiate a criminal case against Aliyev and the former head of the National Security Committee Alnur Musayev in order to verify their involvement in organizing the murder of oppositionist Altynbek Sarsenbayev, his driver and security guard.

Rakhat Mukhtarovich Aliyev is a Kazakh politician and businessman, ex-son-in-law of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He lost his posts due to a criminal case related to the kidnapping and murder of two people.

The biography of Rakhat Mukhtarovich Aliyev began on December 10, 1962. The future businessman and politician was born in the capital of Kazakhstan - the city of Alma-Ata (now Almaty). Rakhat's father worked as a surgeon. Mukhtar Alievich was a current academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Aliyev's father died in 2015. Rakhat’s mother, Minvar Kadyshevna, worked as a housewife and raised a child.

After graduating from school, Rakhat Aliyev decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and entered the Alma-Ata Medical Institute. Based on the results of the training, the young man received a diploma in the specialty “doctor-surgeon”.

Since 1986, Aliyev worked as a clinical resident and completed his graduate studies at the Moscow Medical Institute. Three years later, Rakhat joined the Kazakh Research Institute of Surgery as a leading researcher.

Business and politics

A career in big politics began for Rakhat Aliyev after his appointment to the post of deputy head of the Department of Foreign Economic Relations of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This event that changed Rakhat’s life occurred in 1993. In addition to his position in the government apparatus, the politician was entrusted with the management of several large companies.

Three years later, Aliyev was transferred to the Main Tax Police Department of the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It took another year to move from the post of deputy to the post of head of the Almaty Tax Police Department. Rakhat's career advancement was rapid.

In 2002, Aliyev reached the international level. The politician appeared in the Republic of Austria as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan. At the same time, Rakhat spoke on behalf of the state at meetings of a number of international organizations, including the OSCE.

Criminal case

In 2007, everything changed. A criminal case has been opened in Kazakhstan regarding the kidnapping of the head of Nurbank. Aliyev was listed as one of the shareholders in the financial institution. During the investigation, the investigative authorities came to the conclusion that Rakhat was involved in this crime. The politician and his friend took the top managers to the territory of the agricultural company and kept them there. Aliyev wanted the kidnapped bank employees to hand over his personal property.

On May 26, 2007, Rakhat was officially removed from his posts and put on the international wanted list. The General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan appealed to the Austrian authorities with the aim of detaining and extraditing the criminal. The arrest took place in June of the same year. The Vienna court did not allow the Kazakh authorities to take Aliyev from Europe.

Already in 2009, Rakhat Aliyev published a book denouncing the President of Kazakhstan entitled “The Godfather-in-Law.” At home, this work of the ex-politician was illegal due to the personal information provided. Aliyev published Nazarbayev's private conversations and state secrets.

In this regard, two criminal cases were opened against Aliyev in Kazakhstan: illegal violation of the secrecy of correspondence and illegal receipt of state secrets. According to experts, the book contains falsification of facts, which casts doubt on the story presented.

In mid-2011, investigative authorities found the remains of the abducted men. Aliyev was charged in absentia by the Kazakh departments, but there was no way to return Rakhat to his homeland. The driver and security guard of oppositionist Altybek Sarsenbaev were involved in this criminal case.

Investigators believed that Aliyev could be involved in the murder of another person - television journalist Anastasia Novikova. The incident occurred in Lebanon. Even after the initiation of a criminal case, Aliyev did not cease to present himself as the main oppositionist in Kazakhstan, despite the fact that he was in another country, and later ended up in prison.

Personal life

Rakhat Aliyev had two wives. She became the first wife of a businessman and politician. The woman represented the family of the current president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who in those years worked as secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR. The wedding of Rakhat and Dariga took place in 1983.

Two years after the wedding, the first child was born in the family. Now in Kazakhstan the man is known as a major businessman and economist. In 1990, the couple had a second son, Aisultan Rakhatovich. 10 years later, a long-awaited daughter was born into the Aliyev-Nazarbayev family, who was named Venus.

The man preferred not to inform the press about his family life. Only in 2007 did the news spread around Kazakhstan that a divorce had been filed. Dariga and Rakhat are no longer husband and wife. Aliyev stated that he did not sign the documents, and no one informed the head of the family. From that time on, Rakhat could no longer introduce himself as the son-in-law of the President of Kazakhstan.

Aliyev did not plan to grieve alone for a long time. Soon photos of his new wife, Elnara Shorazova, appeared. A year before the wedding, Elnara and Rakhat had a son. After the marriage, Rakhat decided to take his wife’s surname. From that time on, the businessman became Rahat Shoraz. According to journalists, the new name helped the man hide from justice.

Shorazova had an EU passport, so Aliyev was given a residence permit in Austria. This allowed the family to move freely within the European Union and in a number of other states. The main place of residence of the family was Malta. Later, information appeared that Shoraz plans to immigrate to the United States, where he wants to seek political asylum.

Death

On February 24, 2015, Austrian police announced the death of the accused. The man was found in the bathroom of a prison cell, which was located in the Josefstadt district of Vienna. Employees of the institution stated that Aliyev hanged himself. The prison staff did not notice any tendency towards depression or suicide in the politician.

But experts learned that the man had been threatened by unknown citizens shortly before he was hanged, so they suspected murder. The lawyer of the deceased Aliyev, Manfred Einedter, agreed with them. The Austrian Ministry of Justice announced Rakhat's suicide. Representatives of Kazakhstan insisted on their participation in the investigation into the causes and circumstances of the citizen’s death. Aliyev's funeral took place in Vienna.

Memory

• 2004 – “Economics. State and globalization"
• 2004 – “The Economy of Zhene Memleket”
• 2009 – “The Godfather-in-law. Eine Documentation"
• 2009 – “Godfather-in-law”