Kazakh woman returns home after being declared dead

The woman discovered her «death» when she stopped to receive pension / Photo: Shutterstock

A court in the Zhambyl region of southern Kazakhstan vacated a prior declaration of death for a woman who had been mistakenly declared deceased. It was later determined that the body previously identified by her relatives was that of another individual.

According to the Zhambyl District Court, the relatives reported a 72-year-old woman missing after the celebration of Eid al-Adha in 2025. Before her disappearance, she had been living with her sister in the city of Taraz for a year. Court materials indicate that she led an active lifestyle for her age, frequently visiting friends and relatives.

In August of the same year, a body was discovered in a field near a village. The woman’s son and daughter identified the deceased as their missing mother, after which a death certificate was issued.

However, in September, the woman unexpectedly appeared at her brother’s home in the village of Kostobe, in the Zhambyl district.

After that, her daughter had to go to court to vacate the declaration of the mother’s death.

«The court established that the body found earlier was that of another individual. The police conducted an exhumation and ordered a repeated forensic and genetic examination, after which the identity of the deceased was definitively confirmed and the criminal case was closed,» the court’s press service said.

In court, the woman explained that she went to the Aisha Bibi village after Eid al-Adha, where she found a job harvest onions and lived with a woman she worked with. The woman discovered her «death» when she stopped being paid her pension and arrived in Taraz to handle the issue.

The court fulfilled the demand and waived the declaration of death, along with recognizing the certificate as invalid. The ruling has taken effect.