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After finishing school, she moved to the former capital Almaty - where she lived for a short period with her eldest brother and only sibling, Aitbek Amangeldy.

Last month, authorities in Almaty — Kazakhstan’s largest city and business hub — blocked a rally for International Women’s Day to show solidarity with victims of domestic abuse.

Farhad landed a job at a burger joint near the border, then followed a friend of a friend to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, where he’d been promised work as a singer.

The Olympic committee was left with only two bid cities for 2022 — Beijing, China, and Almaty, Kazakhstan — after financial, political and public concerns led several European contenders to drop out.

Videos posted on the Telegram messaging platform showed people in the Kazakh city of Almaty running downstairs in apartment blocks and standing in the street, some of them wearing shorts in the freezing weather.