[attach id=410935 size="medium"]‘Not suicide Rakhat Aliyev. Photo: Reuters[/attach]
A Kazakh journalist has cast further doubts on the alleged suicide of political exile Rakhat Aliyev, days after the widow of the millionaire who for years sought refuge in Malta said suicide was “out of the question”.
“Shots of CCTV footage show that at 10pm, Mr Aliyev was given a pill by the chief of the security personnel of his cell’s floor,” said Irina Petrushova, the award-winning editor-in-chief of Respublika, a newspaper that claims to expose government corruption in Kazakhstan.
“The chief is not authorised to give medication and it is usually handed out by a nurse. Instead, these shots show the nurse standing facing the wall with a trolley in front of him. And so far, this nurse and chief have not been interrogated,” Ms Petrushova told Times of Malta.
She fled to Russia more than 10 years ago and has been given a CPJ International Press Freedom Award.
She is now investigating the death of Mr Aliyev, the former son-in-law of Kazakh dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev. He was found dead on February 24 in the bathroom of his prison cell in Vienna, where he was awaiting trial for the murder of two bankers in Kazakhstan. On that day, he was meant to testify against two cellmates who allegedly threatened to have him killed in a way that would look like suicide.
A post-mortem on his body concluded he had likely committed suicide, even though traces of illegal sedatives were found.
It was a very long and painful death
His widow has since said it was “out of the question” he committed suicide.
Ms Petrushova said she and her colleagues had known Mr Aliyev’s life was in danger but they were “sure that nothing of the kind would happen in prison in Vienna”.
Her newspaper had corresponded with Mr Aliyev about Kazakhstan’s pre-term elections only a few days before his death. However they did not publish his personal views. “He asked us if anyone was covering the hearing as he had prepared a stack of documents – a bomb ready to explode – which he was going to present during the trial in Vienna. Why would a person preparing himself for a hearing commit suicide?
“We have been following his case for a while, and it was out of his character to commit suicide. He was very ambitious and wanted to fight back.
“Mr Aliyev was also very conscious about his appearance, so for him it was very important to be dressed properly and look good. He was however found in his jogging suit in the bathroom,” Ms Petrushova said, adding that he also had several other, less cruel options if he wanted to commit suicide.
Mr Aliyev allegedly hanged himself seated, in what was later revealed as “a very long and painful death”.
The journalist has also seen some of the police files compiled following his death which, she said, raised further questions.
There is no photo showing how the body was found because the first thing the person who found him did was to cut the bandages, she said, adding that footage also showed that the scene was not cordoned off and a lot of people went in and out of the cell.