The murder that aroused a nation

IF YOUR PARTNER were lying unconscious after a frenzied assault, you would generally call an ambulance. Not Kuandyk Bishimbayev, a former minister in Kazakhstan. Instead, as his common-law wife lay dying, he phoned a clairvoyant, who assured him (mistakenly) she would be fine. Last year Saltanat Nukenova died of injuries inflicted by Mr Bishimbayev (pictured) in a fancy restaurant owned by his family in the country’s glitzy capital, Astana. On May 13th a court handed him a 24-year prison sentence. Millions of Kazakhs had tuned into the live-streamed trial, which sparked anguished soul-searching over domestic violence—and highlighted the sense of entitlement and impunity among Kazakhstan’s rich and powerful.