In Atyrau, a former deputy governor of the region and ex-Mazhilis deputy Bakytgul Khamenova, who was convicted of taking bribes, was spotted.
According to the Telegram channel ‘ZTB NEWS’, in footage published on social media she is standing in the front row among current officials and police officers — as an honoured guest of the event.
For context, Khamenova was sentenced to seven years in prison for accepting a bribe of 4.5 million tenge related to the installation of a monument to Abai. The court also barred her from holding civil service positions and ordered the confiscation of her property.
Incidentally, after the video of the event was published, the Atyrau Regional Court reported that the execution of her sentence had been postponed for three years because Khamenova has two young children.
The name Bakytgul Khamenova has been known for a long time. She worked as a deputy in the Mazhilis and actively supported the policies of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. In 2017, Khamenova proposed renaming Astana to ‘Elbasy’ — in honour of the first president — but even Nazarbayev did not support this initiative at the time, calling it premature.