Anastasiya’s re-burial

New: Photo of Anastasiya’s re-burial after her body was discovered

Anastasiya Novikova’s remains are finally laid to rest in decent burial in 2008. Pictured, L to R: Unidentified, Zhaksybek Esten (father of Daniyar Esten), and Tatyana Medvedeva (mother of Anastasiya Novikova). Location: Burunday Cemetery, Almaty, Kazakhstan, March 2008. Photo is from a member of Anastasiya’s family.

This is the first known publication of the burial of Anastasiya Novikova’s body, after the remains had been exhumed from their secret grave.

As if hiding a murder, the people closest to Anastasiya at the time of her 2004 death did not notify her family or the authorities. They flew Anastasiya’s remains to a remote part of southern Kazakhstan, drove them to an abandoned cemetery, and buried them in an unmarked grave.

One of those who took part in the secret burial was Rakhat Aliyev‘s cousin, Daniyar Esten. Anastasiya had been forced to marry Esten in 2003 to cover up her pregnancy with Aliyev’s child. Anastasiya Novikova was killed in 2004.

Esten, who knew more than anyone about Aliyev’s illicit fatherhood and the circumstances of Anastasiya’s captivity in Beirut and her violent death and secret burial in Kazakhstan, was killed in a mysterious accident in 2005.

Before his death, Esten had Anastasiya’s and Aliyev’s daughter, Luiza, raised by his parents in Kazakhstan.

Anastasiya’s remains remained hidden until 2007, when her body was discovered and identified. At that point, Kazakh authorities notified the family.

Retained as evidence of a crime, Anastasiya’s body was laid to rest in a real Christian burial in Almaty, the old Kazakhstan capital, in March of 2008.

Now, a member of Anastasiya’s family has come forward and provided #JusticeForNovikova with a photograph of Anastasiya’s funeral.

That photo, shown above, was taken on March 4, 2008, at the Burunday Cemetery in Almaty. The picture shows Anastasiya’s final resting place after a simple but loving Christian burial.

Anastasiya’s mother, Tatyana Medvedeva, is the woman standing to the right, her head covered by a scarf. Next to her, in the middle, is Zhaksybek Esten, the father of Daniyar Esten. The woman standing at the left of the picture is not identified.