"This morning, at the age of 72, the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, died after a serious illness," - such a message appeared on one of the sites in the "Incidents" section in the spring of 2012.
As you know, the message turned out to be false, Nursultan Abishevich did not die and did not even leave the presidential post. But on that day, some citizens experienced many unpleasant moments. The situation was aggravated by the fact that no other sources reported about the death of the head of state.
In such cases, the question arises - who could organize such a publication and why did it become possible?
President of Kazakhstan
The position of the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan is somewhat different from the position of persons holding a similar position in other states.
Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev became president in 1990, when Kazakhstan was still a union republic within the USSR. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he remained the head of state.
The constitution of the republic secured the special position of the first president. One person cannot serve as president for more than two consecutive terms, but this restriction does not apply to the first president. Its powers were determined by a separate constitutional law.
In addition, the personal life of the president is not displayed in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In fact, it is a state secret, like the health of the head of state. And what is surrounded by mystery always becomes the subject of gossip and gossip, especially if some kind of information leak does occur. For example, in 2011, a wave of rumors was caused by a visit by Nazarbayev to a clinic at the University of the Hamburg-Eppendorf Medical Center (Germany).
Bad joke
As for the scandalous announcement of the death of the President of Kazakhstan in 2012, citizens were too shocked to pay attention to his date. Meanwhile, the date was: April 1, 2013. The sad news turned out to be someone's "April Fool's joke"!
Who exactly decided to joke so cruelly remained a mystery. The media did not say whether the police managed to find the person who took it into his head to make such a cruel and unsuccessful joke, and what punishment befell him.
In 2014, the Republic of Kazakhstan adopted a new Criminal Code, which provides for a penalty of up to 12 years in prison for spreading rumors. Speaking about the reasons for the appearance of such an article, the First Deputy Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan did not mention the scandalous message. He mentioned the panic caused by SMS messages about the bankruptcy of several banks, rumors about the break of the dam in Taraz. But it cannot be ruled out that the "April Fools' joke" also played a role.
