Kazakh president rolls back democracy - son-in-law

ALMATY, May 26 (Reuters) The son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev accused the Kazakh leader today of rolling back democracy in the Central Asian state.

Nazarbayev this week ordered the police to investigate Rakhat Aliyev on suspicion of kidnapping two executives of Nurbank, a medium-sized Kazakh bank controlled by Aliyev.

A long-time ally of Nazarbayev who is married to the president's eldest daughter, Aliyev was sent to Vienna as ambassador this year in what analysts called ''luxury exile''. He said the police investigation was an attempt to silence him.

''This hastily organised case is truly 'important'. Its 'importance' lies in the attempt to remove me from the political process in the country,'' Aliyev said in a statement on the Web site of the Kazakhstan Today news agency, which he controls.

''I think the effective usurpation of the (presidential) post by one person, turning elections into a farce for foreign monitors, a gradual rollback of democratic achievements, are not helping our country, to say the least.'' Nazarbayev, in power since 1989, this week signed constitutional amendments allowing him theoretically to stay in office for life. His current presidential term expires in 2012.

The authorities also took Aliyev's KTK television channel off the air and closed his Karavan newspaper for three months for violations of Kazakh law.

The US embassy in oil-rich Kazakhstan criticised the moves and urged the government to respect freedom of speech.

Aliyev, who has built up a vast political and business power base since the mid-1990s, called the Nurbank case and the seizure of his media assets ''absurd'' and ''illegal''.

''A few months ago I told Nursultan Abishevich (Nazarbayev) that I had decided to run for the presidency in the next elections in 2012,'' said Aliyev, who is still in Vienna.

''Shortly after that conversation the Nurbank case happened.

Analysts believe this week's political activity is part of a broader process to consolidate power in Nazarbayev's hands.

Reuters NY VV1314