More than 150,000 people have signed a petition against domestic violence in Kazakhstan. What does the president think about this?

The petition played a significant role in this issue. In mid-November 2023, following the brutal murder of Saltanat Nukhenova, the wife of former Minister of National Economy Kuandyk Bishimbayev, an important letter appeared on the Otinish website. The author of the "Open Appeal to the President of Kazakhstan on reforming the criminal and administrative legislation on the protection from domestic violence" is journalist Rakim Oshakbayev.

"The disproportionately mild legal response to minor domestic offenses creates a sense of impunity among potential violators and naturally leads to more serious crimes, including murders. Often, criminal law intervention at this stage does not save the lives of women and children and becomes just a belated punishment for committed acts. In this situation, we believe that the issue of criminalizing battery and causing minor harm to health should be resolved as a priority regardless of the adoption of the law on combating domestic violence," the letter states. Marie Claire Kazakhstan, in turn, also asked to draw public and the presidential apparatus's attention to the important petition. At the time of writing, the open letter had collected 150,888 signatures.

During the interview, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also paid attention to this letter. Although the petition was declared illegitimate by the Ministry of Justice last year, the president noted that the opinions of Kazakhstanis would definitely be considered. "Regardless of whether the mentioned petition meets the legal requirements, the citizens' opinion presented in it will definitely be taken into account — there can be no doubt about that," the head of state declared. We are expecting significant changes in this important issue in 2024.

This text was translated with the help of the artificial intelligence ChatGPT