Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe interview

     Almost five years after Rakhat Aliyev cast me to my death from the 9th story of a Lebanese hotel, he was interviewed by a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter about his 2009 book Godfather-In-Law, a tell-all account of life in Kazakhstan under Nazarbaev.  I have a different version of events and would like to share, as well as offer a counterpoint to his statements.

     The interview begins with the genesis for the book: why did Rakhat write it?  Where did it come from?
     Rakhat claims to have watched Nursultan Nazarbaev turn away from his obligations and become dictitorial.  He fled in February 2006 after being unable to "allow myself to continue standing with a leader who would use any legitimate and illegitimate methods. I would say that from that moment, a sort of banal, criminal governing system was formed".  This answer glosses over Alieyv's meteoric rise, multiple counts of murder including the mother of his illegitimate child, who happens to be me, and an almost bottomless lust for corruption and extortion.

     The first question pertains to the book and why Aliyev wrote it.  The answer is a damage control, blaming Nazarbaev for all the ills on Kazakhstan.  It overlooks Aliyev's positions in the country, notably his job in the 1990s  including "a series of high-level positions in law enforcement, financial police and tax collection agencies, rising to first deputy head of the KNB, the Kazakh security service".  It was in these positions he made most of his money and attempted a coup in 2001, disguised as a reform of the intelligence service.  While deputy head of security, he abused his power to embezzle and execute hostile takeovers of companies, a trend that would repeat in January 2007.  The resulting twin murder saw Aliyev exiled to Vienna as the ambassador in February 2007.

     Aliyev goes on to indirectly blame Nazarbaev for the death of Altynbek Sarsenbaev, the former Kazakh ambassador to Russia and former Information Minister in February 2006.  This contradicts evidence appearing later on blaming Aliyev for Sarsenbaev's death. Aliyev was rumored to have ordered the death and is now covering his tracks.  In December 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed this theory.

     Later on in the interview, Aliyev denies his familial tie to Nazarbaev helped him.  He implies possession of a working knowledge of economics, despite being trained as a surgeon, a practice he rapidly abandoned in 1983 after marrying Nazarbaev's daughter. Rakhat currently possesses medical and economic doctorates, was a general in the Kazakh KGB and picked one of the most plumb ambassadorships available, representing Kazakhstan in Vienna, where he fathered my child.  This is a vast array of jobs and positions to be held by one man.  Usually such position are the culmination of years on the job and one doesn't hold all of them.  Only political favoritism creates such results.

   The rest of the interview is more of this, with Rakhat Aliyev attempting to portray himself as a dissident against the Nazarbaev regime and he, himself is innocent of all charges.  This is false, the only thing he dissents from is the decent treatment of his fellow human beings.