A woman from western Kazakhstan who experienced two decades of severe domestic abuse by her former husband is to be retried for allegedly conspiring to murder him, Human Rights Watch said today. The first attempt to prosecute the woman, Elvira Erkebayeva, 41, was declared a mistrial on May 19, 2025, and exposed how police in Kazakhstan failed to protect her from domestic violence. A new jury was selected on June 23, 2025.
Police in Uralsk, western Kazakhstan detained Erkebayeva on February 26, 2024, following her apparent attempts to purchase a firearm. Erkebayeva, who is being held in detention and faces 15 years to life in prison, never actually purchased or otherwise acquired a firearm. She had, however, approached the police at least twice in early 2024 about her abusive former husband, against whom she had obtained multiple protection orders, which the police failed to enforce.
"This case demonstrates the perverse and unjust consequences that can flow from police failure to adequately respond to cases of domestic violence," said Viktoriya Kim, assistant Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Police should have investigated and prosecuted her former husband for years of violence, but instead Erkebayeva, who should be receiving support as a survivor of violent crime, finds herself facing prosecution."
Erkebayeva and her lawyers maintain that any wish to buy a gun stemmed from her need for protection and not an intent to kill her former husband, who has not been harmed and did not file any criminal complaint. According to her lawyer, Tamara Sarsenova, and local women's rights activists, Erkebayeva experienced over 20 years of relentless domestic abuse, including beatings, strangulation, death threats, verbal humiliation, and absolute control over her movements.
For many years, Erkebayeva was apparently afraid to report the abuse even after her divorce in 2013, fearing retaliation by her former husband, who continued to share their home with her.
On March 1, 2024, the police reported that they had prevented a "contract killing," stating that a wife "who did not want to share property with her husband" had ordered his murder. Erkebayeva has been held in a pretrial detention center since her arrest.
The indictment against Erkebayeva alleges that in 2023, she attempted to "find a firearm" and, with the help of an accomplice, planned to kill her former husband. The accomplice reportedly found a potential hitman, who reported them to the police, and the authorities then opened an investigation.
Erkebayeva's former husband had threatened to kill her and prevent her from ever seeing her children, now ages 13 and 17. Sarsenova told Human Rights Watch that, on one occasion, he had stripped her naked and ejected her from the house. In a separate episode in 2022, he threw boiling water in her face.
The NeMolchiKz Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of survivors of sexual and domestic violence across Kazakhstan and is closely following the case, said that Erkebayeva sought protection from police in mid-2023, but they failed to take meaningful action to protect her.
She made at least two written requests in January and February 2024 for protection orders from the police, which they granted but failed to enforce when her former husband violated the orders. Nor did they pursue charges for his violence against Erkebayeva or refer her to services, such as shelter, for people experiencing domestic violence.
The sustained and relentless violence Erkebayeva experienced at the hands of her former husband has taken a heavy toll on her health and mental well-being. She testified during her first aborted trial that she had attempted to end her life on several occasions.
In February 2024, Erkebayeva underwent a psychological assessment arranged by her lawyers. The expert concluded that "constant emotional tension, the need to withstand for a long time unreasonable and unpredictable aggressive reactions of [Erkebayeva's] husband and inaction of the police, who she [Erkebayeva] repeatedly addressed [for help], triggered repeated suicide attempts."
On May 19, the judge dismissed the jury on the grounds that several members had experienced domestic violence and might not be impartial. Rather than dismiss the charges with prejudice, meaning that she could not be retried due to the due process prohibition on double jeopardy, the judge ordered a new trial.
The repeated efforts to prosecute Erkebayeva indicate fundamental flaws in the case and raise fair trial concerns, as well as concerns about the criminalization and prosecution of victims of domestic violence, Human Rights Watch said.
The years of violence Erkebayeva experienced are a stark example of how hard it can be for Kazakh women to overcome barriers to reporting such crimes. The barriers include stigma, social pressure, and fear of retaliation, as well as a well-founded fear that the authorities will not provide any meaningful help, as was Erkebayeva's experience.
If Kazakh authorities persist with Erkebayeva's prosecution, they should ensure that it is conducted in strict compliance with international human rights norms. This includes ensuring that Erkebayeva is able to present a meaningful defense that would include the context of domestic violence. Erkebayeva's and witnesses' reports of the abuse she experienced and her inability to seek help should be fully admissible and given proper weight in any determination of guilt or sentencing. Given the failure of the authorities to secure a timely trial, Erkebayeva should be released pending and during the trial and enabled to get the medical and psychological support she needs.
Domestic violence is not treated as a serious crime in Kazakhstan, despite the government's claims that it takes the problem seriously. In 2024, Kazakhstan adopted legislative amendments that strengthened legal protections for women and children, including domestic violence survivors. However, the changes to the law stopped short of criminalizing domestic violence as a standalone offense or providing enhanced support to victims in domestic violence cases. Protections for women from abuse under the existing laws are insufficient and poorly enforced.
The Kazakh government's failure to adequately protect women against domestic violence and ensure their access to justice violates Kazakhstan's international human rights obligations, including under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Kazakhstan's international partners should call on the Kazakh authorities to take urgent action to prevent and end impunity for domestic violence, including through prevention efforts, legislative reform, police training and accountability, and services for victims.
"The circumstances of Erkebayeva's prosecution, and the multiple police failures to protect her and to ensure the system works as intended, sends a chilling message to survivors of domestic violence across Kazakhstan," Kim said. "The Kazakh government should ensure that survivors of domestic violence receive timely protection and support, not criminal prosecution."
