Happy birthday, Anastasiya. You would have been 34 today

Anastasiya Novikova’s grave outside Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Anastasiya Novikova would have been 34 years old today.

She was murdered 10 years ago, at age 24, leaving behind the lovely baby daughter she had conceived with Rakhat Aliyev.

After Anastasiya’s “fall” from a Beirut high-rise in June 2004, her body was taken out of Lebanon on a chartered jet and flown to Kazakhstan, even though Anastasiya was not a citizen of Kazakhstan. Her mother, a Russian who lived in Uzbekistan, was not notified of Anastasiya’s death.

Anastasiya’s broken remains were buried in a shallow grave in a remote abandoned cemetery. Her baby was sent to be raised by the parents of Aliyev’s cousin, whom he had forced her to marry as a way of covering up the paternity of the child. The cousin, Daniyar Esten, then died mysteriously in a Vienna automobile collision the following year.

In 2007, when Anastasiya’s remains were discovered, exhumed and identified, Kazakhstan authorities notified the victim’s family. Her body was given a Christian burial at a cemetery outside Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Now, Anastasiya’s grave remains a place of pilgrimage for those who loved her. Happy birthday, Anastasiya. We will continue to seek justice for you.