Aidos Sadykov, who was attacked in Kyiv, died in hospital

Kazakh opposition activist and journalist Aidos Sadykov, who was attacked in Kyiv, has died in hospital.

This was reported by his wife, Natalia.

Doctors had been fighting for Sadykov’s life for 13 days. His wife emphasizes that his murder is «on the conscience of the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev.» Earlier, Natalia Sadykova said that doctors gave her husband only a 0.01% chance of recovery.

Attempted Murder of Aidos Sadykov

On 18 June, an unidentified man with a gun ran up to the car where Aidos Sadykov and his wife were traveling, shot at Sadykov, and then fled. The attack took place in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital, near the couple’s home. Since then, the Kazakh oppositionist had been in serious condition in intensive care.

The National Police served two Kazakh citizens with a notice of suspicion of the attempted murder of Sadykov. Altai Zhakanbayev, born in 1988, and Meyram Karatayev, born in 1991, were notified of the suspicion. Both have no fixed place of residence in Ukraine. On 22 June, one of the suspects in the attempted murder, namely Zhakanbayev, was detained in Kazakhstan after he had appealed to the police himself.

After it became known that Aidos Sadykov had died in hospital, the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office reported that the charges against the suspects would be changed from attempted murder to premeditated murder committed by order and by prior conspiracy by a group of persons (Article 115(2)(11),(12) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The Sadykovs moved to Kyiv from Kazakhstan in 2014. Aidos Sadykov was subjected to criminal prosecution in his homeland, as he claims, for political reasons. In Ukraine, they were granted refugee status and ran their own YouTube channel, Basse, where they criticized the Kazakh authorities and oligarchs and supported the protests in Kazakhstan in 2022. In the autumn of 2023, Aidos and Natalia Sadykov were put on the wanted list by the Kazakh authorities on charges of inciting hatred.