Aliyev case in Vienna becomes complicated

Rakhat Aliyev. Photo taken from Facebook

The trial of the case of the former ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria Rakhat Aliyev will begin in Vienna on April 14, Tengrinews reports citing RIA Novosti.

Rakhat Aliyev died in Vienna’s Josefstadt prison on the night of 23 February. He was found hanged in his solitary confinement cell that he was transferred to from a three-person cell shortly before his death.

Later, the Ministry of Justice of Austria officially confirmed the suicide of the former Kazakh ambassador. An autopsy confirmed that it was a suicide but Aliyev’s lawyers had doubts.

The forthcoming hearings promise to be among the most complicated in the history of Austrian justice. The court has invited more than 90 witnesses, 60 of them are from Kazakhstan.

Former head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan Alnur Musayev and former security officer of the President of Kazakhstan Vadim Koshlyak are going to face the trial as well. They are accused of effecting the abduction and murder of two top managers of Kazakhstan's Nurbank together with the deceased Rakhat Aliyev.

The matter is complicated by the confrontation created by Viennese lawyers involved in the case. For example, shortly before the court hearings, one of the law firms involved in the process, launched a special website http://www.aliyev-derprozess.at to influence the public opinion. The website is expected to publish materials defaming Aliyev and his accomplices.

Writing by Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina

The trial of the case of the former ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria Rakhat Aliyev will begin in Vienna on April 14, Tengrinews reports citing RIA Novosti.

Rakhat Aliyev died in Vienna’s Josefstadt prison on the night of 23 February. He was found hanged in his solitary confinement cell that he was transferred to from a three-person cell shortly before his death.

Later, the Ministry of Justice of Austria officially confirmed the suicide of the former Kazakh ambassador. An autopsy confirmed that it was a suicide but Aliyev’s lawyers had doubts.

The forthcoming hearings promise to be among the most complicated in the history of Austrian justice. The court has invited more than 90 witnesses, 60 of them are from Kazakhstan.

Former head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan Alnur Musayev and former security officer of the President of Kazakhstan Vadim Koshlyak are going to face the trial as well. They are accused of effecting the abduction and murder of two top managers of Kazakhstan's Nurbank together with the deceased Rakhat Aliyev.

The matter is complicated by the confrontation created by Viennese lawyers involved in the case. For example, shortly before the court hearings, one of the law firms involved in the process, launched a special website http://www.aliyev-derprozess.at to influence the public opinion. The website is expected to publish materials defaming Aliyev and his accomplices.

Writing by Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina

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