Wife seeks review of husband's life sentence in decade-old murder case

Nearly ten years after the high-profile murder of a pawnshop owner in Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan, the legal battle surrounding the case continues. Zhanara Bazarbaeva is fighting to overturn the life sentence of her husband, Nurzamat Orosov, asserting his innocence and alleging judicial corruption.

The case dates back to February 2016, when Almakhan Bapiyeva, the owner of a pawnshop, was found murdered. Investigators concluded that the pawnshop's security guard, Tilek Zholdoshbaev, killed her, disposed of the body, and attempted to conceal the crime. Bazarbaeva, however, disputes this narrative, stating that Zholdoshbaev, who worked as a debt collector for an organized crime group, had a minimal connection to her husband, primarily involving a loan against Orosov's car.

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This is all that connected these people.

Bazarbaeva claims that Zholdoshbaev initially gave one account of the events but later implicated Orosov, asserting that no other evidence proved her husband's involvement. She alleges that Zholdoshbaev bribed judges to secure a reduced sentence, which allowed him to be released early under an amnesty program after serving six years of a 20-year sentence. In contrast, Orosov remains imprisoned, serving a life sentence.

Despite her persistent efforts over the past decade to seek a retrial, Bazarbaeva has faced repeated setbacks. She is now raising six children, one with a disability, while her husband suffers from tuberculosis and she is battling cancer. Bazarbaeva's struggle highlights deep-seated concerns about justice and fairness within Kyrgyzstan's legal system, particularly for those without financial means.

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I have no proof, but from two different sources I heard that Tilek Zholdoshbaev paid a large sum of money to the judges. At the same time, I have been trying for ten years to get the case reviewed, but without success. You can raise judges' salaries as much as you want, even up to 500,000 soms, but there will be no justice from that. If you don't have money, no one will listen to you.