Tombstone provocation: unknown persons buried journalist Gulnara Bazhkenova Thursday, 05 June 2025
A scandal is brewing in Kazakhstan over an attempt to exert unprecedented pressure on the well-known journalist and editor-in-chief of the
Orda.kz
publication Gulnara Bazhkenova. Photos and videos of a tombstone with her portrait, name, and date of "death" — May 25, 2025 — have been circulated on social networks. A particularly disturbing detail is the inscription on the stone: "The violin will sing as long as mom is alive." This episode has caused a wave of indignation and concern in Kazakhstani society, because the journalist is alive, and the production and placement of such a monument is an obvious act of pressure, the meaning and authorship of which are still unknown.
The inscription on the stone, apparently, is not accidental: Gulnara Bazhkenova’s son, as is known from open sources and social networks, is involved in music and plays the violin. Thus, the organizers of this provocation deliberately used personal information for emotional pressure.
The situation looks especially ironic against the backdrop of a recent fake, when it was the editorial board
of Orda.kz
, headed by Bazhkenova, who was the first to report the alleged death of Sara Nazarbayeva, the former wife of the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. At that time, the information turned out to be unreliable and was officially refuted. Now, it seems, someone has decided to “respond” in kind, but in a much darker and more threatening form.
This is far from the first case of pressure on Bazhkenova and her editorial staff. In October 2022,
Orda.kz
received a parcel with a severed pig’s head and an enclosed photo of Bazhkenova. In 2025, the attacks continued - through fake ads on behalf of the editorial staff, constant calls and even visits with photofits. On May 4, 2025, the
Orda.kz
website was blocked in Kazakhstan, which the editorial staff perceived as an attempt at censorship.
Against this background, the incident with the "tombstone" looks like the culmination of a campaign of psychological pressure. It is not yet known who is behind this action, where the stone is installed and for what purpose it was made. But one thing is absolutely clear: this is not just a prank or a cruel joke - it is a direct threat to independent journalism and an alarming signal to society.
