Homicide of Financial Director in Almaty: Husband Is Main Suspect

Al-Beine Zaripova had been subjected to her husband's abuse for many years. She later decided to part ways with him but was killed at the end of January. Information on this only recently surfaced. Orda.kz has contacted the Almaty Police Department for comments and has spoken with the victim's relatives.

Al-Beine Zaripova, 42, was the financial director of FlyDubai in Kazakhstan. She had been married to her husband for almost 15 years. They raised a 12-year-old daughter together. On January 31, at 8 a.m., multiple stab wounds were inflicted, causing her death. The main suspect is her husband, Sabyrzhan Zaripov.

The Almaty City Police Department reports that a pre-trial investigation is underway into the homicide. The suspect has been detained and taken into custody. Examinations have been appointed. Now the investigation is underway,  the PD's press service reported. 

The woman was killed in the couple's private home in an elite part of the Medeu district. Al-Beine flew to Almaty for just one day to see her daughter on the way from Dubai to Astana, where she was recently transferred for work. Zaripova was supposed to be sent to London to study, good career prospects had presented themselves.

In her last voice message to her mother, she said she was returning from Dubai "to her hell."  The homicide was committed in the basement of the house, while the 12-year-old daughter was on the second floor.

Unhappy Family Life

The woman's relatives say that moral and physical abuse pervaded Al-Beine's home. Her husband restricted her communication with friends and family, so she had communicated with them secretly, her mother, Magzhan Bayseitova, told Orda.

More than once, Al-Beine told me about her husband's short-tempered and aggressive nature. After each conflict, he asked her for forgiveness, and she constantly gave him a chance to change, (She - Ed.) wanted to save the marriage and raise her daughter in an intact family.

A year after their wedding, in 2010, Sabyrzhan tried to strangle his wife while she was washing dishes. Zaripova also forgave him afterward. Last November, Al-Beine Zaripova called the police when her husband would not let her go on a business trip. He tried to keep her from leaving by locking the doors and using physicality. Police came and laughed it off. They said that she was alive and why bother the police.

For some reason, despite the amendments to the CPC of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 1, 2023, on the revealing procedure for initiating an administrative case in family and household relations, the district police did not initiate a case and did not issue a protective order to my sister from the aggressor husband, says the woman's brother, Yerik Zhusupov.

These amendments make it possible to initiate cases of administrative offenses without a statement from a victim. Witnesses' and neighbors' statements, CCTV, and video recordings are now enough to draw up a protocol.

Al-Beine's brother lives in Pavlodar. He last saw his sister in December 2023. The woman had bruises all over her body.

"My sister told me that these were from beatings from her husband, but she persuaded me not to confront him. She was already going to divorce him and informed her husband about it. But he insisted on taking six months to think about it, says Yerik Zhusupov.

The woman's mother told Orda.kz that Sabyrzhan was financially dependent on his wife. No one, however, thought that everything would end the way it did. The house where Al-Beine was killed was registered under her name.

What Will Happen to The Child?

The 12-year-old girl has now been left on her own. Legally, she is a "social orphan."

Such a tragedy can seriously affect a child's well-being. To protect my granddaughter and her legitimate interests, I applied for custody. We are currently her next of kin. I am a mother of many children myself, my grandchildren come to my house all the time. I hope that loving relatives will help her cope with the loss of her mother. We will all have to somehow learn to live without our Al-Beine, Magzhan Bayseitova told Orda.

This incident is reminiscent of what happened to Almaty lawyer Ayman Asanova in 2022. The woman, who was the same age as Al-Beine, 42, was stabbed to death by her ex-husband near her house.

The Specialized Inter-district Court of Almaty initially gave the culprit one year and six months, stating that the man was in a "state of passion." Surveillance cameras recorded the man stabbing his victim 18 times with a knife. After reviewing the case, a court handed 11 years in prison down to Talgat Nurtayev.

Another incident is the killing of Saltanat Nukenova in November last year. The main suspect is her husband, the former Minister of National Economy, Kuandyk Bishimbayev. Surveillance cameras recorded how he killed Saltanat in the BAU restaurant in Astana. 

Limiting the communication of their wives with relatives and friends along with constant physical abuse is a common denominator for these men.

Expert's Comment

Khalida Azhigulova is a lawyer and sociologist, Doctor of Law (PhD) from the University of Leicester in the UK, Master of Law from the University of Oxford in the UK.

This terrible tragedy occurred despite the serious public outcry over the killing of Saltanat Nukenova. Unfortunately, Kazakhstani women continue to be at risk of being killed by their husbands and partners. Therefore, it is very important that law enforcement agencies strengthen their work on the prevention of domestic violence so that no aggressor escapes responsibility even for the slightest violence. Aggressors only fear proportionate, harsh, and certain punishment,
 said Azhigulova.

Since 2020, together with her legal colleagues and experts, she has been seeking to criminalize domestic assault and battery along with intentional infliction of minor harm to health. According to Azhigulova, it has been scientifically proven that criminal liability for these types of offenses significantly reduces the level of domestic violence, and therefore the risk of homicide.

Last week, the Majilis approved the reclassification of the articles "Assault and Battery" and "Intentional Infliction of Minor Harm to Health" from the Code of Administrative Offenses to the Criminal Code. The bill will now be considered by the Senate.

I am glad that there is sufficient political will on this issue on the part of the country's leadership. I hope that the law on toughening penalties for minor violence in the family, household and social spheres will be adopted in the near future, the lawyer says.

According to Polisia.kz, in 2023, 60,741 people were brought to administrative responsibility for domestic offenses. 75 thousand protective orders were issued against abusers, an order that was not issued to Al-Beina Zaripova's husband.

Original Author: Maksim Skopin

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The Text has been modified, the content is the same. Please refer to the original piece in Russian for accuracy.