Rakhat Aliyev’s father dead at 81

    Kazakh media report that the father of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's former son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev, who is under arrest in Austria, has died.
    Reports on January 12 did not say when Mukhtar Aliyev died or give the cause. He was 81.
    Rakhat Aliyev -- the former husband of Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, Darigha -- has been under arrest in Austria since June.
    He is wanted in Kazakhstan on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering two bankers in 2007, as well as other charges, all of which he says are politically motivated.
    Austrian authorities have twice declined to extradite him to Kazakhstan, citing concerns that he would not receive a fair trial.
    Rakhat Aliyev was Kazakhstan's ambassador to Austria in 2007 when allegations against him first surfaced. By that time, he had become a critic of his then father-in-law, Nazarbayev.
    Mukhtar Aliyev left for Europe at that time but returned unexpectedly to Kazkhstan in 2009, saying he needed to help his wife. He described her as being "under house arrest,” RFE/RL reports.