Uzbek-born Billionaire Alisher Usmanov Takes On German Prosecutor

Uzbek-born Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has filed a complaint alleging a violation of his rights by officers of the General Prosecutor's Office in the German city of Frankfurt am Main. A criminal case has been opened against two prosecutors, according to the newspaper Bild. In 2022 Usmanov was accused of money laundering, prompting law enforcement to search a villa linked to him on Lake Tegernsee in Germany, an apartment near Frankfurt am Main, and a yacht, Dilbar, which was then moored at the port of Bremen. In 2023, a Frankfurt am Main court ruled that the authorities' actions were illegal. The court ordered the return of property confiscated during the search, but this has not been fulfilled. Currently, a preliminary investigation is underway as per Usmanov's complaint. According to Statista, Alisher Usmanov ranked eighth among Russian billionaires in 2023, with a net worth estimated at $14.4 billion. He has been under EU sanctions since 2022, and is suspected of money laundering and tax evasion. Usmanov appealed the EU sanctions, saying they will lead to the bankruptcy of major Russian companies in which he holds large stakes - MegaFon, Metalloinvest and Udokan Copper, noted The Wall Street Journal. The U.K. had until recently imposed restrictions on the billionaire's sisters, Saodat Narzieva and Gulbahor Ismailova, and his adopted son, Nathan (Anton) Wiener, before these were removed in 2022. It was reported that several accounts in the Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, with assets in excess of $2 billion, were at one point registered under Narzieva's name. According to Usmanov, in the near future he intends to step down from his positions in business, and engage further in philanthropy.

Senator Zhanna Asanova: the bill against domestic violence is ready to be submitted to the Majilis

According to the prominent Kazakh senator Zhanna Asanova, in 2023 domestic violence claimed the lives of 69 women and children, and more than 99,000 people sought help for this reason. A total of 2,452 crimes against children were registered. In a post on Facebook, Ms Asanova announced that a bill aimed at countering domestic violence is ready to be submitted to Kazakhstan’s parliament, the Majilis. She stressed that a number of experts on women's and children's rights were involved in creating the bill. Senator Asanova also emphasized that state agencies, in partnership with Kazakhstan’s children's ombudsman Dinara Zakiyeva, are working to increase the number of guardianship officers to 1,650 people. Currently there are only 309 of them in the country. Ms Asanova wrote: "As the president noted, any legislative changes will not be effective unless there is complete rejection, 'zero tolerance' in society, for any form of aggression and violence." The bill includes the following measures: 1. Criminalization of violence, which implies the establishment of criminal liability for battery and causing minor harm to health (currently these crimes are regulated by the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Kazakhstan). 2. Classifying these crimes as criminal offenses requiring public prosecution in order to increase the effectiveness of law enforcement. 3. Toughening the punishment for these crimes and excluding the possibility of reconciliation of the parties to all forms of violence against children, in order to ensure the protection of the rights and interests of children. 4. Creation of infrastructure for assistance to families and children, including the opening of Family Support Centers and Centers for Psychological Support of Children, to provide comprehensive assistance to victims. 5. Introduction of special requirements in the Criminal Code, including psychological work with the aggressor, in order to prevent repeated cases of violence and to rehabilitate perpetrators of such crimes.