Aliyev charged in Nurbank Murders

    Kazakh prosecutors on Wednesday charged the former son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Rakhat Aliyev, with the murder of two bankers who disappeared in 2007.
    The bodies of the bankers, who worked as managers for Nurbank, are believed to have been discovered last month in Almaty. The bankers were reportedly embroiled in a business affair with Aliyev when they disappeared.
    Nazarbayev expects Austria to extradite Aliyev shortly, the Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday.
    “The Austrian authorities have no grounds for not giving us these criminals, so that justice may prevail,” AP reported Nazarbayev as saying.
    If extradited, Aliyev would face a new trial.
    Aliyev was serving as the Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Austria when in 2007 he challenged Nazarbayev to the presidency. Shortly after, Nazarbayev stripped him of his ambassadorship and ordered police to investigate his son-in-law for allegedly kidnapping the bankers.
    Aliyev was charged in 2008 with attempting to overthrow the government. He managed to avoid extradition from Austria, claiming he would not receive a fair trial in Kazakhstan. A Kazakh court convicted him in absentia and sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
    The former ambassador maintains his innocence in the bankers’ disappearance, according to the Central Asia Newswire.