Image: Instagram Saltanat Nukenova

12 May 2024
Central Asia, Home, Features

Bishimbayev: Kazakhstan Awaits Verdict in Pivotal Murder Case

This is not in doubt in the live-streamed trial in Kazakhstan: The former economy minister brutally beat his wife and she died from her injuries.

Was it murder with particular cruelty and torture, as prosecutors allege? Or was the killing unintentional, making it a lesser crime commensurate with manslaughter or culpable homicide, as the defense says? After weeks of dramatic testimony, the jury is expected to deliberate and reach a verdict soon.

Whichever way it goes, the decision in the trial of Kuandyk Bishimbayev, whose fatal beating of Saltanat Nukenova at a restaurant in Almaty, Kazakhstan in November was partly captured in CCTV footage, is one chapter in a fraught reckoning over domestic violence that is only just emerging into the open in a Central Asian country where speaking out is sometimes discouraged.

In other countries where powerful men have been accused of murdering female partners, some sensational cases have, at least temporarily, energized debate and campaigns to protect women from domestic violence even if the legal outcomes have bitterly disappointed the families of the dead. There was the trial of athlete and celebrity O.J. Simpson, acquitted in the 1994 deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in Los Angeles. In South Africa, former Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius was freed on parole in January, 11 years after murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in a Valentine’s Day shooting.

As public outrage over Nukenova’s killing simmered in Kazakhstan, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a new law in April that tightens penalties for domestic violence and provides more help for survivors. Human Rights Watch is among groups that have commended the law as a step forward but say it should have designated domestic violence as  “stand-alone offense,” which would allow other types of violence within the family, such as psychological or sexual, to be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.

The trial has thrust Kazakhstan’s criminal justice system, which can often be opaque, into the international spotlight. The unprecedented access to the Astana courtroom for online viewers has generally reflected well on Kazakhstan, showcasing a female judge, Aizhan Kulbaeva, as well as female prosecutor Aizhan Aimaganova, who at one point held up a bottle of red liquid to show the size of the fatal blood clot in Nukenova’s head.

Aimaganova also said Bishimbayev tried to cover up the crime and that, while he had a mind and intellect, there was “no heart” nor any shred of remorse and compassion in his eyes.

The jury consists of ten citizens and the judge, who is likely to hold considerable sway over the group. A simple majority is needed to reach a verdict. Kazakhstan started introducing jury trials in 2007 and has received U.S. and European guidance over the years.

In 2018, Bishimbayev was sentenced to jail time for corruption, but was later released as part of an amnesty. If convicted of murder, he could face 15 years to life in prison. In his final remarks in court, he said he was sorry but was also defiant, talking about how an alleged smear campaign against him was similar to Nazi propaganda.

“This is how it turns out in my case: the more terrible the lie that is spread, the easier it is for people to believe it,” the defendant said.

People in Kazakhstan and beyond await a verdict.

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The Chilustun Mosque was first built in the 9th Century. Images, TCA, Sadokat Jalolova

12 May 2024
Central Asia, Home, Uzbekistan, Life & Culture, Uzbekistan Life & Culture

Healing Properties of Uzbekistan’s Chashma Spring Draw Curious Tourists

It’s Sunday morning, and a nice breeze is blowing. Due to favorable weather, many people are paying a visit to the Chashma complex in Nurota, in the Navoi region of Uzbekistan. The complex is one of the most visited holy places by Central Asian Muslims, and thousands of tourists from all over the world flock here every year. The Times of Central Asia decided to see how popular the tourist spot is.

This historical complex includes the Chilustun Mosque, the Chashma Spring, the Panjab (Beshpanja) Well, the Panjvaqta Mosque, and Sheikh Abul Husan Nuri Mausoleum. The people of Nurota district mainly speak Tajik, in which the word Chashma means “holy spring.”

“Panjvaqta” mosque was built in 1570-1582 on the order of Abdullah Khan II, the emir of Bukhara

 

In the 9th century, the Chilustun Mosque was built at Chashma; it was rebuilt in the 16th century during the rule of Amir Timur. The mosque, erected near the holy spring, has a dome-shaped sundial with cylindrical windows, which sits in the heart of the mosque. In addition, the art of wood carving and other examples of Central Asian national decoration were skillfully used in the construction of the mosque.

Panjvaqta Mosque is located next to Chilustun. This mosque was built between 1570 and 1582 upon orders from Abdullah Khan II, the Emir of Bukhara. Today, the building consists of a large dome with two-sided porticos. All of its columns are made of mulberry and elm wood, and the base is made of marble.

The main focus of visitors is the Chashma Spring. Local historian, Zilola Safarova has said that 40,000 years ago, a meteorite fell from the sky in this place and radiated light for a hundred days. As a result of the meteorite, a crater was formed and a holy spring with healing properties appeared. The people of Nurota believe this legend, and many are of the opinion that the name Nurota is related to this event.

Chashma’s water flows through thousands of kilometers of underground passages at a rate of 290 liters per second, and the temperature of its water remains constant in all seasons of the year at 19.5° Celsius. The spring’s highest recorded flow rate was 400 liters per second. Furthermore, Chashma’s water is said to have healing properties. It was found that it contains trace amounts of gold, which is said to be a cure for gastrointestinal diseases. It has long been known that iodine in water is a cure for goiters, and rare bromine is known as a cure for nervous disorders. Meanwhile, silver contained in the water ensures that its mineral composition is well preserved. Microbiologists say that this holy water contains 15 useful trace elements which have the ability to calm a person and may have a positive effect on the body.

If one pays attention to the entire picture here, there are fish in the Chashma, which are called river marinka. These fish have an average lifespan of 17 years, and clean the streams from which spring water emerges out of sand. That sand ensures a moderate flow of water, and filters it. In addition to the river marinka, the Times of Central Asia saw several other types of fish. It’s an interesting sight to see fish live without any external food, feeding only on microorganisms and minerals contained in the water. Pilgrims and tourists are prohibited from feeding the fish and polluting the water.


Local residents say it was eating this fish which caused the death of Russian soldiers at the beginning of the last century. Despite being warning against it, they caught and ate fish from the spring and died immediately. It’s true that these fish cannot be eaten as they have a black membrane inside, and their caviar is poisonous. If one eats a little without cleaning it, it causes spots on the skin, and if one eats more, one may die.

There is also a small market inside the shrine, which mainly sells souvenirs, scarves, rosaries, children’s clothes, spices and snacks. The prices are very cheap, as is customary across Uzbekistan’s tourist spots – women’s bracelets sell for between $0.39 and $1-$1.5, and children’s clothes from $1 to $4. There are now two hotels on either side of the entrance to the shrine, which has made it convenient for tourists coming long distances to exploring the Chashma complex.

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A mosaic depicts scientist Abu Rayhan al-Birun. It was designed by Pyotr Zharsky in 1978 – Photo by Fotima Abdurakhmanova

11 May 2024
Central Asia, Lead Story, Home, Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan Lead Story, Uzbekistan Life & Culture

Buildings “Full of Tattoos:” Tashkent Mosaics, Newly Protected, Tell of a City’s Rebirth

In one Tashkent mosaic, Shirin, a protagonist in a Persian love poem that ends in tragedy, sits with flowing hair on a colorful carpet. Another mosaic in the Uzbek capital depicts the scientist Abu Rayhan al-Biruni with the planet Saturn overhead and flowing water below. The scientist holds the Tree of Life. The mosaic is located on Babur Street in the Yakkasaray district of Tashkent. Other images portray Soviet-era optimism – a young couple, a female irrigation engineer and corn and wheat, symbols of production and abundance.

Tales of degraded heritage in Uzbekistan and elsewhere are familiar, but there are bright spots. In late March, the government designated about 160 mosaics on buildings in Tashkent and other regions as cultural heritage, meaning they are protected, officially at least, from being dismantled, painted over or covered with advertisements. The city’s subway art is also a source of pride. The state sees the images as a tourist draw, and Tashkent residents and other enthusiasts who have campaigned for their preservation are spreading the word.

Photo by Fotima Abdurakhmanova

A slick new website titled “Mosaics of Tashkent” offers information about more than 330 mosaics, documenting how artists and architects from across the Soviet Union and beyond put their stamp on the reconstruction of a city that was virtually leveled in a 1966 earthquake. Investigations are still underway to determine who made some of the mosaics. Many were dismantled or damaged over the years and not all of those remaining have government protection.

“Each mosaic told its own story, gave emotions, diluted the gray landscape of high-rise buildings, marking the beginning of a new life and a new era,” says the website, which was created by Tashkent’s Department of Digital Development. The quake left hundreds of thousands without homes. One official toll put the number of dead at 15, though it was probably higher.

Photo by Fotima Abdurakhmanova

Some residential buildings with mosaics on their facades “look like a body which is completely full of tattoos,” Philipp Meuser, a German architect, said during a presentation at the Goethe-Institut in Tashkent last week.

Meuser wrote a book about the Tashkent mosaics of the Zharsky brothers – Pyotr, Nikolai and Alexander. The three designers and decorators decorated hundreds of buildings in a city whose reimagined character was shaped by Soviet modernism, regional influences and some Western ideas about urban layout. Two of the brothers were born in France.

The Zharskys started mosaic designs with a sketch, and the process was scaled up from there, Meuser said. In one method, colored tiles were pressed by hand into soft concrete that had been poured into a steel mold to create a mosaic. The survival of the art decades later testifies to the durability of the techniques.

Photo by Fotima Abdurakhmanova

Communism-extolling mosaics were an official art form across the Soviet Union, but the imagery of many of those which survive in Tashkent is not ideological. Geometric and floral patterns suggest inspiration in the centuries of Islamic and multiethnic culture in Central Asia. While Uzbekistan removed a lot of Soviet monuments after independence in 1991, the story of Tashkent’s rebirth after the earthquake lingers in its tattoo-covered buildings.

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Uzbekistan greenhouse farming

11 May 2024
Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan Environment, Uzbekistan Home, Uzbekistan Business & Economy, Uzbekistan Life & Culture

New Measures to Boost Agriculture in Uzbekistan

On May 10, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was presented with proposed adaptations in agricultural practice and the more efficient use of land in the light of climate change.

In Uzbekistan, 3 million hectares of pastural and agricultural land have been now degraded, and approximately 2 million hectares, salinized. According to experts, by 2030, water resources in the region are at risk of diminishing by almost 6 percent as a direct result of climate change.

In response, Uzbekistan has developed a national program, for which over $294 million is anticipated in grant funding, to adapt agriculture to climate change and mitigate its impact.

The initiative aims to improve the condition of 1 million hectares of agro-ecological landscape and degraded pastures in the Aral Sea region. Protective forest belts will be created in Karakalpakstan, as well as in Khorezm, Bukhara, and Kashkadarya regions and drought-resistant plants such as licorice, rose hips, and sesame, cultivated in areas where water is scarce.

A center will be established to analyze and forecast climate change, and agrometeorological stations installed in five regions of the country. In cooperation with Italy, a further center with a nursery will be built for intensive seed cultivation alongside a farm for plants resistant to drought and salinity.

Since the need to preserve water is particularly acute in areas surrounding the lower reaches of the river Amu Darya, subsidies are to be allocated for laser-leveling land in Karakalpakstan. Grain and rice producers will be reimbursed up to 100 percent of the fuel costs required to level land using a laser level, in a move to increase yields and reduce water consumption by 15-20 percent.

The program also encourages farmers to build more greenhouses. In recent years, the spread of greenhouses has increased 2.6-fold, and the volume of produce grown in such, has more than tripled.

The greenhouse sector currently provides 80,000 thousand permanent jobs and a further 70,000 seasonal posts. To increase the efficiency of greenhouse farms, the program proposes to reimburse greenhouse owners 50 percent of the costs of hiring qualified foreign agronomists, as well as up to 20 percent of the costs of coal heaters.

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Kazakh Invest

11 May 2024
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Life & Culture, Kazakhstan International Affairs, Kazakhstan Business & Economy, Kazakhstan Home

Kazakhstan and Netherlands Cooperate in Agriculture and Healthcare

On 10 May in Astana, contracts were signed by Kazakhstan and the Netherlands to promote bilateral relations in both agriculture and healthcare, reported Kazakh Invest.

The Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan and the Dutch company VISCON signed a memorandum of understanding to implement the construction of an automated center for crop production. Employing artificial intelligence technologies and in vitro cultivation methods, the project will improve the sustainability, quality, and yield of crops in Kazakhstan. Running from 2024-2030, the initiative is set to produce 12 million seedlings annually.

The Ministry of Agriculture also signed a contract with Royal GD to modernize Kazakhstan’s current veterinary service. By upgrading quality control, the joint project will ensure that Kazakhstan’s livestock products meet international standards and hence, boost its exportation to Western markets.

With regard to the nation’s health, the Ministry of Healthcare of Kazakhstan and Royal Philips signed a memorandum of cooperation through which the Dutch company will localize the production of portable ultrasound devices in Kazakhstan.

 

 

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Image: Temirov Live Facebook

10 May 2024
Central Asia, Home, Kyrgyzstan Justice, Life & Culture, Local Politics, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan Local Politics, Features

Case Documents for 11 Temirov Live Journalists Submitted to Court in Kyrgyzstan

Legal documents regarding the cases of eleven current and former journalists of the Temirov Live project, who are accused of calling for mass riots, have been handed over to the court. According to the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek, the criminal case was received by the court office and will be handed over to the judge through the automatic distribution of cases of the AIS system, 24.kg news agency has stated.

As previously reported by the Times of Central Asia, on January 16, Interior Ministry officers searched the office of Temirov Live and confiscated its editorial equipment. The police also searched the journalists’ homes and detained eleven current and former employees of the publication. The motivation behind the case was one of Temirov’s projects called “Ait, Ait Dese,” which was published on YouTube in the fall of 2023, which the authorities claim called for mass disorder.

At the time, Kyrgyz Interior Minister Ulanbek Niyazbekov said the detainees weren’t journalists. “We cannot [help] but respond when they disseminate inaccurate information and engage in vilification. There are those who do not know the laws of journalism and do not have the relevant knowledge. They do not know and spread misleading information, sowing confusion among the people. I believe that we should not consider them as journalists,” news agencies quoted the Interior Minister as saying.

The detainees were Makhabat Tazhibek kyzy, Sapar Akunbekov, Azamat Ishenbekov, Saipidin Sultanaliyev, Aktilek Kaparov, Tynystan Asypbekov, Maksat Tazhibek uulu, Joodar Buzumov, Zhumabek Turdaliyev, Aike Beishekeeva and Akyl Orozbekov. They were all taken into custody in January for two months, until March 13. Later, the court released some of the detained journalists under house arrest and on their own recognizance.

Already facing a backlash over its so-called “foreign agents law,” Bishkek has pushed back against international criticism of the high-profile prosecution, saying the case is not politically motivated and that those facing charges are poorly educated people masquerading as journalists.

In late 2022, Kyrgyzstan deported Bolot Temirov, an investigative reporter with dual Kyrgyz and Russian nationality. “Temirov was sent to Russia by force with no belongings, no phone, no money or international passport, and in violation of deportation procedures,” the head of Reporters Without Bordfers Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, Jeanne Cavelier stated at the time.

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