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Daughter of Kazakh leader says divorced fugitive husband

Kazakhstan Materials 20 June 2007 16:31 (UTC +04:00)

( RIA Novosti ) - The older daughter of Kazakhstan's president confirmed reports that she has divorced her Austria-based husband wanted at home on suspicion of kidnapping two people and organizing a group of raiders.

"There have been plenty of rumors, but I can confirm only one - about the divorce," Dariga Nazarbayev, 44, told Kazakhstan Today news agency. "It is an ordeal for my family, but I can only say that this was a difficult and considered choice."

A former ambassador to Austria, Rakhat Aliyev was fired late last month after publicly accusing Kazakhstan's 17-year leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, of totalitarian rule. The fugitive businessman also announced he would run against Nazarbayev at elections in 2012.

Aliyev, 44, was arrested in Vienna on June 1 and released on a one-million-euro bail two days later. He is awaiting a ruling on his extradition.

The son of a former health minister, Aliyev is wanted in Kazakhstan for allegedly organizing a group of raiders who illegally seized land plots and real estate. He is also accused of abducting two top managers of the country's leading bank Nurbank, where he was a co-owner.

Aliyev insisted in an interview with Austrian weekly Profil that the charges against him were trumped up on orders from Nazarbayev, and said that if he were extradited, his life would be in danger.

Aliyev and his wife have two sons.

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