On Wednesday, two men who allege they had been framed and tortured by Kazakhstani multi-millionaire and Malta resident Rakhat Aliyev will seek to raise awareness on their case by way of a public hearing.
The two men – Petr Afanassenko and Satjan Ibraev, former bodyguards of Kazakhstani ex-Prime Minister Kazhegeldin – are demanding that the Maltese police step up their long-delayed investigation into the serious allegations against Mr Aliyev, who is in self-exile in Malta. Those allegations include, in addition to that of torture, charges of financial fraud and murder.
With the help of the aditus foundation and Public Foundation Journalists in Danger, the men aim to bring to the public’s attention the sordid details of their case against Rakhat Aliyev, a former Kazakhstani government official who has been accused and convicted of a variety of financial and criminal charges, including torture and murder.
They have initiated legal proceedings against Mr Aliyev in various EU member states, including Malta, for having allegedly personally tortured them. They have also lodged a request for the Malta Police Force to open an investigation into these allegations on the basis of Mr Aliyev’s residence in Malta.
But to date, they say, the Maltese authorities have still to begin any such investigation.
Mr Afanassenko and Mr Ibraev are former bodyguards of Kazakhstan’s ex-prime minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin and have, given what they allege to have been their personal experience, become anti-torture activists.
In April 2000, they had each been charged with the ‘illegal possession of firearms’ as well as ‘plotting an armed coup’ and were sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
During an interrogation that lasted 48 hours, the men allege that they were tortured and were administered psychotropic substances in order to make incriminating confessions against their former boss, former Prime Minister Kazhegeldin, a political opponent of Mr Aliyev who had by then gone into exile.
At the time of this alleged incident, Mr Aliyev was the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbayev and acted as deputy chief of the country’s secret service. He eventually fell out with Nazarbayev and fled Kazakhstan, claiming threats to his life after he declared himself a candidate in the presidential race. But the bodyguards insist that before that, Mr Aliyev had been paving the way toward the presidency by planning to get rid of rivals such as former Prime Minister Kazhegeldin.
The OSCE and international human rights watchdogs have condemned the bodyguards’ trial as having been politically motivated. The bodyguards’ case has also been raised by the US State Department in its annual human rights country reports and was roundly condemned by the international human rights community.
The two men have since sought justice in their case by pressing civil charges against Rakhat Aliyev, who has been granted permanent residence in Malta.
Rozlana Taukina, the director of Kazakhstan-based Journalists in Danger organisation and who will be speaking at the event, has been active in bringing to the attention of the international community the bodyguards’ case as well as that of other alleged victims of Mr Aliyev. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.