The lawyers of former Kazakh diplomat and Malta exile Rakhat Aliyev are insisting that his death in an Austrian prison was no suicide, and are calling for an independent investigation into the matter.
A suicide in the prison of Vienna put an end to the first phase of a political-financial thriller which preoccupied the governments of Malta, Austria and the prosecuting authorities in Europe for years. The case is not closed. On the contrary, all the unknown aspects of a story where the leading part was played by a person who was found dead in the small toilet of the prison in Austria and was accused of blackmail, murders, threats and money laundering come to light.
Many Kazakhstanis, including ethnic minorities, support Nazarbayev's leadership. (Photo: Joanna Lillis). A billboard in the northern Kazakhstani city of Kostanay extols the virtues of the country's multi-ethnic ideology. Kazakhstan is home to some 140 ethnic groups, with two regions, including Kostanay, where Russians outnumber Kazakhs at a breakdown of 42 to 39 percent. (Photo: Joanna Lillis)
On 14 December 2014, the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Astana for the 13th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The premier's visit signified a new stage in Kazakh–Chinese economic relations. Li announced a new package of economic deals, totalling US$14 billion. Kazakhstan and China also agreed to establish joint enterprises in the manufacturing and other key industrial sectors.
An MP who is paid £15,000 a year to advise a repressive regime has been urged to confront it about human rights. Peter Lilley, the MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, is paid the sum for his advisory work on the Eurasian Council on Foreign Affairs (ECFA), which is funded by the government of Kazakhstan.
Austria has asked Switzerland to carry out an autopsy on Rakhat Aliyev, a Kazakh dissident found hanged in an Austrian prison last week, to dispel any suggestions of a cover up after a first post mortem found traces of sedatives.
Rakhat Aliyev experienced the sort of career that is only possible in autocratic regimes; where blood is thicker than water, and where whom you know is infinitely more important than anything you may have learned. A one stage his CV glistened with the sort of plum jobs only available to those with contacts, but by the time of his death at 52 his downfall was complete. He died in an Austrian prison cell awaiting trial for murder, a charge his supporters say was politically motivated.
