Kazakh exile accused of torture claims police infiltrate by dictator’s secret service

The former son-in-law of Kazakh dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev has issued the first ever public declaration to the Maltese press claiming his innocence against allegations of torture by two former bodyguards.

Rakhat Aliyev, 51, who lives in Malta, was accused today of having personally commissioned the torture of two bodyguards of former Kazakh prime minister Akezhan Kazhageldin in 2001, in a bid to extract a false confession that he was plotting a coup to overthrow Nazarbayev. Aliyev was then the deputy chief of the Kazakh secret service. Since then he has fallen out with Nazarbayev and later being sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment on murder charges, while in exile.

"I deny once more any allegations of torture brought against me by Satzhan Ibraev and Pytor Afanasenko - like myself and my family, they are victims of the Kazakh dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev," Aliyev said.

The two bodyguards have petitioned the Maltese police force several times to investigate Aliyev on their allegations of torture, but the Maltese courts turned down a 'police challenge' to force the Commissioner of Police to investigate their case, over a question of jurisdiction. Aliyev is married to an Austrian-naturalised citizen, and enjoys residence in Malta.

"Ibraev and Afanasenko are being forced to run a systematic smear campaign against me to avert their own persecution. They will only continue to live for as long as they attack me, and if they choose to follow their conscience by stopping these baseless allegations against me, then the regime will kill them as well. They know this, I know this and everyone else who knows dictator Nazarbayev knows this too," Aliyev said in a statement issued by his lawyer, Joseph Giglio.

"My life and that of my family are, and still are, in danger. Kazakh secret service agents are in Malta to monitor my movements and to possibly kill me and my family," Aliyev claimed.

Aliyev is under investigation by German and Austrian police on money laundering allegations, as well as by the Austrian prosecutor on the Kazakh murder charges that were brought against him. He has also been questioned in a Maltese court by an Austrian prosecutor.

"The Kazakh secret service has long been trying to influence the Maltese courts, the Maltese Attorney General and the Maltese Police Force and they are now strengthening their dubious influence in Malta through public events like that held today. They will use voluntary NGOs and civil society as a platform to disseminate deceitful messages and blatant lies. NGOs should think twice before associating themselves with the despicable Kazakh regime," Aliyev claimed in his statement.

The two bodyguards who gave their account of torture at the hands of Aliyev, were hosted by human rights NGO Aditus.

Aditus Foundation chairman Neil Falzon today precised that his NGO was not taking sides in the matter, but publicizing the rights of Ibraev and Afanasenko to have access to the Maltese legal system and to have the police investigate their complaint against Aliyev.

Aliyev said he was extending an invitation Aditus to listen to how he became a victim of the Kazakh dictatorship.

Aliyev claims confidential court documents on a money laundering investigation was leaked to the Kazakh Secret Service in July, and called on the Commissioner of Police to investigate the breach, saying the Kazakh Secret Service had infiltrated Malta's highest security and justice systems.

"The timing of today's public event is coinciding with the hearing of a court case scheduled for tomorrow in Malta. Clearly, this event is intended to put pressure and to misguide the Courts of Malta on the eve of a court hearing and to position public perception in Malta against me and against my family," Aliyev said.

He also questioned the use of the European Parliament and European Commission delegations' offices for the public meeting.

"The European Commission delegation should explain why it has taken the side of a despicable dictator like Nazarbayev especially in view that several authoritative bodies and NGO's have already declared that Kazakhstan is a dictatorship, a repressive state where people's human rights are abused everyday, the Courts are not free and fair and the concept of free media is non-existent," Aliyev said.

"If the bodyguards want to present a civil claim in the Courts of Malta, I will have no problem to answer to their claim in court," he said.