[2] Austrian legal circles were giving much attention to this high-profile criminal case in which a former diplomat was facing murder charges.

While serving in those government posts, Aliyev amassed a fortune in the banking, oil refining, news media, telecommunications, and agricultural commodities sectors.

In February 2007, he was appointed to his second tour as Kazakhstan's ambassador to Austria and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, before being relieved of his post and losing his diplomatic immunity.

[6][7] After hiding in Malta to avoid an Interpol warrant for his arrest, and attempting to gain Cypriot citizenship, Aliyev was taken into custody in June 2014 by Austrian authorities on charges that include kidnapping and murder.

[13] On 7 October 1983, Aliyev married Dariga Nazarbayeva,[12] daughter of the First Secretary of the Central Committee Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR, Nursultan Nazarbayev at the time.

From 1993, he also headed many companies, including as the Director General of the "KazMedImport" trade company under the Ministry of External economic relations (1993–1995), the Director General of the "RR Kazakhstan — Trade and Financing Ltd." Joint Venture LLP and the President of the "Sugar Center" (Сахарный центр) holdings (1995–1996).

At the same time, in 1997, he graduated from the Higher School of Law "Adilet" in the specialty "lawyer-legal scholar" and interned at the FBI Academy.

[12] From June 21, 2002, to July 2005, he was the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria and concurrently to Serbia and Montenegro; also represented the country in the OSCE and some other international organizations accredited in Vienna.

Aliyev moved to Malta with his second wife Elnara Shorazova; the two allegedly began to dissolve and reorganize their money laundering network.

The timing of these reports coincided with the divorce of Aliyev with his first wife, the daughter of the President of Kazakhstan, and his falling out of favour with the ruling family.

According to reports, Aliyev amassed a large fortune through defrauding a variety of companies and services while enjoying protection as son-in-law of the President, one of which was the Kazakhstani state soccer team.

[19] The two men, lbrayev and Afanasenko, claimed that in April 2000, Aliyev tortured them for a total of 48 hours wanting them to confess that Kazhegeldin had been plotting a coup in Kazakhstan against Nazarbayev.

[19] According to the lawyer of the two accusers, Lothar de Maizière, they addressed law enforcement of Malta demanding a criminal case but the authorities allegedly never followed through.

[22] January 2014, the office filed a notion to start a new case against Aliyev and the former head of National Security of Kazakhstan, Alnus Masayev, related to the involvement in the opposition leader's murder as well as his bodyguard and his lawyer.

While in Austria, Aliyev announced his candidacy for the upcoming Kazakhstan elections and criticized the sitting Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

"[21] He married Austrian citizen Elnara Shorazova and enjoyed free movement throughout Europe although being investigated on fraud charges in the Austria, Germany and Malta.

"[33] He also said in the same interview that all the charges were "made up primarily by the leadership of the National Security Committee, the prosecutor general, the interior minister, and the whole power bloc of ministries.

[23] He also reportedly called the lawyer, Gabriel Lansky, who had been helping the bankers' widows and their campaigns to bring justice, as "fronts of the Kazakh regime.

"[23] Aliyev was reported to have circulated forgeries of documents to defame those he sees as critics, including former British prime minister Tony Blair, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, former Austrian chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and current President Heinz Fischer, former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, and former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder[34] However, according to Die Presse newspaper, Austrian authorities found Skype calls that undermine his claims.

[29] The Skype calls also purportedly recorded Aliyev directing the fabrication of a specific forged document to discredit former British prime minister Blair and former Austrian chancellor Gusenbauer.

After the permission of President Nazarbayev to Kazakh law enforcement bodies to investigate this criminal case “without regard for rank”, Aliyev was accused of abduction and extortion at the end of May 2007.

[citation needed] Following Aliyev's denial and claims that he had fallen victim to political repression, Nazarbayev on 26 May issued decree No.

At the end of March 2008 Akmola Garrison Military Court found Rakhat Aliyev as a key person involved in preparations for a coup d'état and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment.

[40][41][42] Nurali Aliyev was named in the Panama Papers as having vast amounts of wealth held in offshore companies through Alba International and the Baltimore Alliance which are registered in the British Virgin Islands.

[43][44][45][46] In the spring of 2020, a United Kingdom court in London ordered him to prove the legal origin of over $100 million of his wealth associated with three firms registered in Panama, Netherlands Antilles, and Anguilla.

[50][51][52] Aliyev married his assistant, Elnara Shorazova, who held an Austrian passport, and assumed the masculine form of her surname, Shoraz, as his own name.

[50] On 24 February 2015, on the 40th Day after death of his father,[56] Rakhat Aliyev was found dead in the solitary cell of his Vienna prison.

[57][58] The Federal Ministry of Justice (Austria) has officially confirmed the fact of Rakhat Aliyev's suicide in his prison cell.

[61] In 2006, Aliyev called for the creation of a “British-style” constitutional monarchy in Kazakhstan, believing it would bring stability and liberal democracy to the nation.

Aliyev argued that in adopting a republican form of government when it gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed, Kazakhstan defied its traditions.