Funeral ceremony for Kazakh activist Aïdos Sadikov, in the suburbs of kyiv, July 5, 2024 (AFP / Genya SAVILOV)
When Natalia Sadikova and her husband Aïdos parked in their yard in kyiv on a beautiful day in June 2024, the music from the car radio did not suggest that an armed man was waiting for them.
“The bullet broke the window and hit Aïdos in the temple. There was only one shot,” Natalia recalls for AFP, her eyes lost in space.
The couple, exiled Kazakh opponents who had been granted asylum in Ukraine 10 years earlier, had just finished shopping and were planning a vacation with their children for the first time since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“Aïdos immediately lost consciousness. He collapsed on the seat belt. I screamed,” she continues. “Miracles exist. I was hoping for one. But unfortunately, there were none.”
Aïdos Sadikov, 55, a Kazakh opposition figure, had won more than a million followers on his social networks thanks to videos criticizing the ruling elite of Kazakhstan.
His death in hospital on July 2, two weeks after the attack, illustrates the dangers faced, even in exile, by critics who speak out against the authoritarian regimes of the former Soviet Union.
The family moved to Ukraine in 2014, as widespread political anger erupted into pro-EU protests in kyiv's central Maidan square, a revolution that led to the ouster of the then pro-Russian leader and was a catalyst for the Russian invasion of the country.
These historic events inspired many opponents in the former USSR, like the Sadikov couple.
– Kazakh killers –
Ex-resident of the Crimean Tatar National Movement and former Soviet dissident Mustafa Dzhemilev, left, speaks with Natalia Sadikova during the funeral ceremony of her husband, Kazakh activist Aidos Sadikov, on the outskirts of kyiv, July 5, 2024 (AFP / Genya SAVILOV)
“Maidan symbolized freedom, democracy and the possibility of peacefully overthrowing the Kazakh government,” explains Natalia Sadikova. It was her husband's dream: “A free and democratic Kazakhstan.”
A strength of character that had seduced her from the moment she met her future husband, in 2009, during an interview – “love at first sight” at the time.
On her social networks, she accused Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev of bearing ultimate responsibility for the assassination of Aïdos Sadikov.
According to Ukrainian authorities, two Kazakh citizens, possibly former police officers, planned and executed the operation before fleeing the country after the murder.
Kazakhstan authorities said the first had surrendered to Kazakh police, but the second is still on the run, according to kyiv.
-International human rights organizations have called for a full and transparent investigation.
Illustrating the treatment of opponents, the administration of Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, banned mourners from attending a ceremony in memory of Aidos Sadikov, local media reported.
Repression against the couple is not new. Their first child was born in the early 2010s while Mr. Sadikov was serving a two-year prison sentence for charges his supporters say were politically motivated.
Natalia Sadikova in Kiev, November 14, 2024 (AFP / Genya SAVILOV)
Later, in kyiv, they faced harassment when their home address was leaked online and a tracking device was installed on their car, according to Natalia.
– Vengeance –
Three days after Aidos' funeral, while the “cries” of her three children still rang in her ears, Natalia Sadikova's pain and the war merged.
On July 8, Russian strikes gutted the Okhmatdyt pediatric hospital in kyiv, near their home, over which a missile passed during deadly bombings that caused panic throughout the city.
“I was in such a state that I didn't care whether the missiles hit us or not,” she says.
For now, even if drones and missiles continue to terrorize her adopted homeland, Natalia Sadikova wants to stay in Ukraine, where her children feel at home. And she wants to follow the ongoing investigation.
Natalia Sadikova serves dinner to her son Chingiz and daughter Sharliz in kyiv, November 14, 2024 (AFP / Genya SAVILOV)
In addition, her husband is buried nearby, an essential fact to continue her mourning, despite, she says, an “abyss” of grief.
“I had never lost someone before and when I did, it had to be the most important person in my life,” she confides.
“There are two things keeping me alive right now: taking care of my children and getting revenge. Revenge. I really want all these monsters who did this to be punished.”
