Banned Book On Nazarbaev To Be Issued On CDs, Flash Discs

PRAGUE -- The chief editor of Ibera Publishing House in Berlin has told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service that the book it printed about Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev will also soon be issued on CDs and flash discs.

Brigitte Strobele said there have been no inquiries from Kazakh officials regarding the book "Godfather-in-Law," written by Nazarbaev's former son-in-law Rakhat Aliev.

Kazakh authorities officially banned the book last week, citing state secrets it says are printed in the book.

Aliev has been living in self-imposed exile in Austria since 2007.

He was tried in absentia in Kazakhstan last year and sentenced to 40 years in jail for extortion, kidnapping, and treason.

Aliev says the charges and the verdict were politically motivated.

In his book, Aliev describes a controversial system of power established by Nazarbaev and accuses the president of ordering assassinations.