Kazakhstan's Supreme Court said on April 19 that Judge Aizhan Qulbaeva -- who is presiding over the high-profile trial of former Kazakh Economy Minister Quandyq Bishimbaev -- has been provided with "measures of personal security" after she received multiple unspecified threats by phone from persons unknown. The court added that a probe has been launched regarding an "obstruction of justice." Bishimbaev, who is accused of viciously beating his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, to death in a restaurant in Astana in November, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
