The Constitutional Court of Kazakhstan canceled the law "On the First President of Kazakhstan – Elbasy", which guaranteed Nursultan Nazarbayev immunity from persecution and inviolability of property. The next day, Nazarbayev was stripped of his status as an honorary senator of Kazakhstan, Maulen Ashimbayev, speaker of the Senate, said:
“About two or three weeks ago, when we revised the regulations, appropriate changes were made to the regulations of the Senate, we removed the title of honorary senator from the regulations. We don't have such an institution now. The reason why we made such a decision is that all our people voted in a referendum in June, during which the norms about the first president, the Elbasy, were excluded from the Constitution.”
The status of an honorary senator was awarded to Nazarbayev in 2019.
Last winter, Kazakhstan adopted amendments that eliminated the need to coordinate key policy directions with Nazarbayev. Amendments were also approved that abolished Nazarbayev's lifetime chairmanship of the People's Assembly and the Security Council.
A few months later, it became known that the country's authorities returned almost $500 million to the treasury during the investigation of criminal cases related to Nazarbayev's relatives.
Also in Kazakhstan, the Day of the First President is no longer considered a public holiday, and the name Astana was returned to the capital (instead of Nursultan).
