Kazakh Activists Urge Authorities To Toughen Punishment For Domestic Violence

Representatives of the women's rights groups told journalists at a press conference that the government must intervene to stop the rising number of domestic violence deaths across the nation.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Several feminist organizations in Kazakhstan have called on the Central Asian nation's government to toughen punishment for domestic violence, saying that a failure to do so would allow more deaths like that of Saltanat Nukenova.

Nukenova died earlier this month after her husband, former Economy Minister Quandyq Bishimbaev, allegedly battered her to death.

Representatives of the women's rights groups told journalists at a press conference in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, on November 22 that the government must intervene to stop the rising number of domestic violence deaths across the nation.

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"It is both chambers of the parliament, the Mazhilis and Senate, it is the president and government who have considered women's lives worthless," activist Aigerim Qusaiynqyzy said. "Why did they move the article on domestic violence that we call femicide from the Criminal Code to the Administrative Code in 2017? In those six years, scores of women have been killed by their husbands."

Since Bishimbaev was arrested on November 11 and charged with killing his wife, many in Kazakhstan have raised the issue of domestic violence, emphasizing that in many cases, including deadly ones, the perpetrators avoid justice.

Domestic violence has been a major issue in the former Soviet republic for decades.

Amid the public outcry over Nukenova's death, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev publicly called on the Interior Ministry to have the investigation of the case under its "special control."

The Interior Ministry said earlier that, in general, more than 100,000 cases of domestic violence are officially registered each year, though the number of unregistered cases may be even larger.

International rights watchdogs have urged Kazakh officials to curb the spread of domestic violence for years.

According to United Nation's experts, about 400 women die in Kazakhstan as a result of domestic violence every year.