Violations of freedom of speech in Kazakhstan. February 2018

The International Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech\r\nAdil Soz made a study of the situation with the right to freedom of expression,\r\nreceipt and dissemination of information in Kazakhstan in February 2018.

Itreports:

- Academician Dilyara Kaydarova demands 10 million tenge and public apology\r\nfrom the editorial of “Public position” (DAT project).

On February 5 peprations\r\nfor court hearing began in the Zhetysu District Court of Almaty on the suit of\r\nDilyara Kaydarova, director of the Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of\r\nOncology and Radiology, to the owner of the newspaper \"Public\r\nposition\" Dara Info, LLP, acting editor-in-chief Bakytgul Makimbai,\r\njournalist Syrym Datov and an employee of the Scientific Research Institute of\r\nOncology and Radiology Shnargul Talaeva.

The plaintiff believes\r\nthat the defendants humiliated, inslulted and demonized her in the untrue\r\narticle \"Cancer Harassment of the Doctor\" (\"Public\r\nposition\", October 26, 2017) aimed at reducing the \"social\r\nsignificance\" of her name as a qualified doctor, academician and manager.

“The phrase \"cancer\r\nharassment\" (...) assumes that I violated the law and ethical norms while\r\nperforming of my duties as the director of the Institute\", the claim says.

As Dilyara Kaidarova\r\nbelievs, the author of the article and the editorial board accused her of\r\ncorruption in the form of harassment of the employee of the institute Shnargul\r\nTalaeva by using agents acting against her.

The plaintiff asked the\r\ncourt to compel the defendants to publish a refutation of the disputed\r\ninformation, to bring public apology and to compensate moral damage in the\r\namount of 10 million tenge.

In order to secure the\r\nclaim, Kaidarova asked to seize the defendants’ property \".

The court denied that\r\nrequest.

- The wife of the head of the department of physical culture and sports of\r\nPavlodar region accused the correspondent of internet portal ratel.kz of disclosing\r\nprivacy information, the publication of photos from her Instagram account, that\r\nwere not intended for a general public and, as a consequence, creating the threat\r\nof her family breakdown.

On February 1 and 8 the analytical Internet portal Ratel.kz published articles\r\nby journalist Jamili Maricheva \"How the wife of a sports official flew to\r\nRome and Paris\" and \"How the wife of a sports official flew to Rome\r\nand Paris-2\". The articles told about foreign trips of Asel Adasheva, the\r\nwife of the head of the department of physical culture and sports of Pavlodar\r\nregion. The articles were based on numerous photographs the woman posted on her\r\npersonal account in the social network Instagram. The account is publicly\r\navailable and has more than a thousand subscribers. At the same time, Aidasheva\'s\r\nhusband told ratel.kz that neither he nor his wife traveled abroad.

At the end of February, Asel Aydasheva files a privacy and personal\r\nimage protection and compensation for moral injury lawsuit to the Pavlodar City\r\nCourt.

In the lawsuit, the official\'s wife told that her social network account\r\nwas ment for her friends only and her husband did not know about the photos she\r\nposted there. Aydasheva accused the correspondent of the portal ratel.kz in\r\ndisclosing per private information and publishing her photos not intended for\r\ngeneral public without her consent. As a result of the \"unlawful intrusion\r\ninto the private life\" of the plaintiff, she turned out to be under the\r\nthreat of the family breakdown, the relatives’ attitude to her chnaged and her\r\nchildren are ashamed of their mother’s photos published without her consent.

Asel Aydasheva asked the court to satisfy her demands for violation of\r\npersonal non-property rights, to enforce 1.5 million tenge from Maricheva as\r\ncompensation for moral inury and 100 thousand tenge more as cost of\r\nrepresentation.

- \"Guild of Court Reporters\" and\r\n\"Internews-Kazakhstan\" prepared an appeal to the heads of bodies\r\nconducting pre-trial investigation of criminal cases, as well as to the\r\nMinister of Information and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan Dauren\r\nAbaev on the limitation of access to information on the investigation of\r\ncriminal cases.

\"This restriction is effective from the end of January 2018. It\r\nresulted in journalists’ inability to receive information on the facts of\r\ncommitting criminal offenses from bodies authorized to conduct pre-trial\r\ninvestigations,\" the appeal says. Pre-trial investigation bodies explain non-provision\r\nof information of pre-trial investigation by article 201 of the Criminal\r\nProcedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (\"Inadmissibility of\r\ndisclosure of pre-trial investigation data\"). The interior affairs departments\r\nforward media inquiries to the prosecutor\'s office. However, media NGOs note, that\r\nthe prosecutor\'s office does not provide information either.

The situation is the same in all regions of Kazakhstan.

\"Earlier journalists could receive information upon oral or written\r\nrequests, as well as thwy could receive oral comments of representatives of\r\nlocal departments of internal affairs on certain crimes. Now journalists tell\r\nabout almost total absence of any information on specific criminal cases. Pre-trial\r\ninvestigation bodies provide information on administrative offences only\",\r\nmedia representatives say. \"The aims of the reform of the law enforcement\r\nsystem in Kazakhstan include increasing the level of public confidence in law\r\nenforcement agencies, ensuring openness and transparency in their activities,\r\nand reducing the level of corruption offenses among law enforcement officers.\r\nOne of the means to achieve this goal is  effective interaction with the media. However,\r\nthe general trend of law enforcement bodies to restrict access to information\r\ninstead of interacting with media. It proves that the prime objective is to\r\nconceal publicly significant information about the criminal situation in the\r\nregions of the country, the progress in the investigation of specific criminal\r\ncases, especially those that draw public attention.

Authors of the appeal ask to clarify the procedure and terms for\r\nproviding  information to journalists\r\nwithin the frameworks of Art. 201 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the\r\nRepublic of Kazakhstan, as well as cases when particular pre-trial\r\ninvestigation data may be restricted in accordance with this article. They also\r\nask to intensify the work of press services and spokepersons of the local\r\ndepartments of internal affairs and their interaction with the media and to\r\ncomply with the legislation on access to information.

In February 2018, two charges of criminal offenses and crimes were\r\nbrought against the media and citizens in connection with the exercise of the\r\nright to freedom of expression, receipt and dissemination of information,

including:

On February 1, the Department of the Committee of the National Security\r\nfor ​​the South Kazakhstan region issued information on the detention of 12\r\nKazakhstan citizens suspected of dissimination of extremist materials on social\r\nnetworks. The case was instituted under Art. 174 of the Criminal Code of the\r\nRepublic of Kazakhstan - \"Excitement of social, national, tribal, racial,\r\nclass or religious discord\". Residents of Turkestan, Arysi, Kentau and\r\nShardar, Suzak and Tulkibas districts of the South Kazakhstan region were\r\ndetained.

Bauyrzhan Azanov, a lawyer of 20-year-old Maksat Kaldarbek, told Radio Azattyk\r\nreporter that his client is accused of \"allegedly saving on his page in\r\nthe social network VKontakte an audio file called\" How to hate modificators\r\nin Islam”. But, according to the lawyer, M. Kaldarbek had no idea what it all\r\nwas about. His page in VKontakte shows that he has 14 friends and two\r\nsubscribers, and his last visit was on May 8, 2016. Besides, according to the\r\nlawyer, Maksat Kaldabek is a \"salafit\" and did not post his image on\r\nthe social network. That is why it is not clear what made the investigators\r\nbelieve that it was his page.  

Bauyrzhan Azanov also told Azattyk that his second client, 30-year-old\r\nKanat Kasymbekov is an unexperienced  Internet\r\nuser.

\"According to the investigation, he and Caldarbek together posted that\r\naudio file, in spite of the fact that they are not friends nad do not even\r\nintercommunicate. As far as I know, they are not even familiar. Do you think\r\nall 12 detained people are familiar with each other? Of course,not. They are\r\npeople from different regions, \"says the lawyer.

5  judicial acts were\r\nissued on cases of protection of honor, dignity and business reputation\r\n(including 1 in appeal) in February. Three  of them were in favor of the media,\r\njournalists and citizens.

19  letters before\r\naction and claims for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation were\r\nfiled in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression in\r\nFebruary. Claims for compensation for moral damage in January-February amounted\r\nto 22 million 200 thousand tenge. Thecourtscollected  90 thousandtenge. 

The\r\nmonitoring was done according to reports of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s\r\ncorrespondents  and information from open sources.

Head of monitoring service\r\nof Adil Soz Foundation Elena Tsoi
\r\ne-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz

For all questions regarding\r\nthe  monitoring, you may also contact
\r\ninfo@adilsoz.kz