There is no justification for murder. Except in cases where it is to protect one’s own life or the life of loved ones who are in danger. Of course, the argument of a threat to one’s own life would be impossible to use – given the CCTV footage, the physical advantage of the accused, and the fact that the killer and victim were in territory completely under the control of the man, where he had complete power. All he could do at trial was to resort to good old patriarchal attitudes in the hope of manipulating the jury.
If it seems to you that no person in their right mind would think that murder can be “deserved” if you behave “wrong,” then read the words that a woman who is also following the process wrote to me: “I have daughter. Pregnant with my second one. I’m very scared for them… Even my husband said that men don’t kill for nothing, she must have done something. Now I hate to look in his direction. Scary”.
Indeed, the scary thing is that the defendant’s speech on the third day was built on some knowledge of which line of defense has a chance of responding in the patriarchal consciousness. Many of us at some point wanted to think that Kuandyk Bishimbayev was mentally ill. This is how our psyche defended itself when faced with evil. But the horror of the situation is that the defendant is a healthy, logical son of the system, a beneficiary of a country in which corruption flourishes, where women are deprived of their rights, where domestic violence has not yet been criminalized. As long as the following circumstances can be mentioned for hours in a defendant’s speech, without being interrupted by the judge’s words “this is not relevant to the essence of the case,” all women in the country remain in danger. Every woman.
1. Drank alcohol.
2. Used obscene language.
3. Had a relationship before him, which caused jealousy.
4. I dared to leave him 12 times.
5. She drove him crazy with her “aggression”.
6. Received gifts from him.
7. She was “hysterical.”
