Rakhat Aliyev - Accusations

Accusations

On 9 February 2007 President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Aliyev as Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Austria and Permanent Representative to the OSCE and other International Organizations in Vienna. The move occurred days after Aliyev became embroiled in a controversy over the disappearance of two former Kazakh bank “Nurbank” executives. 6 February 2007 the Financial police said they were investigating two former managers (both resigned from their position on 22 January 2007) of Nurbank on suspicion of fraud. After the permission of President Nazarbayev to Kazakh law enforcement bodies to investigate this criminal case “without regard for rank” the ex-Ambassador was accused of abduction and extortion at the end of May 2007. On May 22, Nursultan Nazarbayev signed constitutional amendments that effectively allow him to become president-for-life—a move denounced by the opposition. Aliyev joined the chorus of critics, saying the amendments threaten to torpedo Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship bid. In his most recent statements, he accused his father-in-law of "de facto usurping" power. Following Aliyev’s denial and claims that he had fallen victim to political repression, Nazarbayev on May 26 issued a decree N333 stripping his son-in-law of all official positions. Two days later, the Interior Ministry issued a new statement saying an international arrest warrant had been issued and that investigators had been dispatched to Vienna, site of the OSCE’s headquarters, to nab him. The new statement said charges involving criminal association, economic crimes, and kidnapping had been brought against Aliyev. 26 May 2007, Rakhat Aliyev was relieved of his position as Ambassador to Austria and stripped of his diplomatic immunity.

Rakhat Aliyev was also accused of kidnapping Vremya anchor for Kazakhstan Artem Mikoyan in the mid-1990s and locked Mikoyan up in a basement where he kept him and said to Mikoyan that if he will give him all of the money that he made from Vremya (estimated 20 million), he will release and to tell no one about the incident. Artem Mikoyan was let to escape to Italy and never to come back to Kazakhstan again.

30 May, the Kazakh government formally asked Austria to arrest Aliyev for kidnapping and extradite him to Kazakhstan. Arrest warrants are being issued for others in the inner circle of this once-powerful man. 29 May 2007 his diplomatic immunity was removed. In a statement, Aliyev described the charges as absurd and said he was the victim of a political witch-hunt. 7 August 2007 a Vienna court rejected a request from Kazakhstan to extradite Aliyev and ruled against extraditing the son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is wanted on charges of kidnapping. The court said the Rakhat Aliyev would not be given a fair trial in his home country and his human rights could not be guaranteed if he were sent back home. A criminal case against Aliyev and his accomplices ended in mid January 2008: abduction of three top managers of Nurbank in January 2007, the whereabouts of two of them is still unknown, and formation of an organized criminal group found guilty in raiding and document forgery. Almaly district court of Almaty sentenced Aliyev in absentia to 20 years in a high security prison with confiscation of property in this abduction case. The court also sentenced other people to lengthy prison terms. At the end of March 2008 Akmola Garrison Military Court found Rakhat Aliyev as a key person involved in preparations for a coup d’etat and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment. Aliyev’s sidekick Musayev, the ex- KNB chief, was also sentenced to 20 years of prison term. Aliyev and Musayev were found guilty under the following articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Article 168, Section 1 “Seizure of power through violence,” Article 235, Section 4 “Formation and heading of an organized criminal group,” Article 172, Section 4 “Illegal acquisition, disclosure of state secrets,” Article 176, Section 3 “Embezzlement of some other’s property,” 251, Section 3 “Illegal trafficking of arms, ammunition and explosives,” Article 255, Section 4 “Stealing of ammunition and explosives” as well as Article 380, Section 2 “Abuse of powers.”

On June 17, 2011, the Vienna Provincial Court for Criminal Matters rejected a second request for extradition by Kazakhstan because it is not free from doubt that Mr Aliyev will not be persecuted on political grounds in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan requested extradition to enforce the previously rendered convictions by the Almaty district court and the Akmola Military Court (see above).