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\r\nThe International Foundation for the Protection of\r\nFreedom of Speech Adil Soz made a study of the situation with the\r\nright to freedom of expression, receipt and dissemination of\r\ninformation in Kazakhstan in March 2018.
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\r\nIt reports: \r\n
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\r\n- Akmaral\r\nTobylova, a resident of Almaty, was placed under home arrest due to\r\nthe investigation against her on suspicion of \"financial\r\nsupport\" of the unregistered movement \"Democratic Choice of\r\nKazakhstan\", that court declared to be an extremist\r\norganization. Akmaral Tobylova said that she did not understand\r\nthe reasons\r\nof her detention. Human\r\nrights activists believe:\r\nA. Tobylova was detained for\r\nthe peaceful exercise of her\r\nright for freedom of expression.
\r\nOn\r\nMarch 13, the District Court No. 2 in the Yesil district of Astana\r\ndeclared the activities of the \"Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan\"\r\nmovement to be extremist and banned its activity on the territory of\r\nthe Republic of Kazakhstan, including dissemination of information\r\nmaterials and using the media, telecommunications networks, social\r\nnetworks, instant messengers and video- hosting.
\r\nOn the same day, the\r\nProsecutor General\'s Office distributed a press release explaining:\r\n\"Any participation in the activities of the extremist\r\norganization \"Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan\" and\r\nfinancing it will entail criminal liability in accordance with\r\narticles 182\r\n(Creation, management of extremist group or participation in its\r\nactivity), 258\r\n(Financing of terrorist or extremist activity and other aiding and\r\nabetting to the terrorism or extremism) and 405\r\n(Organization and participation in\r\nactivity of public or religious association or other organization\r\nafter court decision on prohibition of their activity or liquidation\r\nin connection with carrying out by them the extremism or terrorism)\r\nof the Criminal Code.\r\n
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On\r\nMarch 15, the Almaty Almalinsky District Court held bail hearings for\r\nthree supporters of the unregistered movement Democratic Choice of\r\nKazakhstan. All\r\nof them were detained at home early in the morning on March 13, \r\nreports Bureau . kz .
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On March 15 Almaty\r\nAlmaly District Court issued a ruling on changing the measure of\r\nrestraint for house arrest for the resident of Almaty Akmaral\r\nTobylova, suspected of \"financial support\" of the\r\nunregistered movement \"Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan\".
\r\nAkmaral Tobylova is\r\ncharged with \"financing the activities of a criminal group\"\r\n(Article 266 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
\r\nThe investigation\r\nbody asked the Judge Alma Abdyhalykova to prolong Akmaral’s arrest\r\nfor another two months. The defence team insisted on home arrest.
\r\nIn her speech,\r\nAkmaral Tobylova explained that she did not understand the reasons\r\nfor her detention: \" To be honest, I do not understand why I was\r\ndetained. I do not think I committed any crime. I just read and\r\nwatched the news, but there was nothing illegal. I was interested in\r\ntheir [Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan] program, as they promised to\r\ngive good pensions and to solve the housing problem. We do not live\r\nvery well. I do not support war and I am not against my country! I\r\njust looked at the problems of our country, at the drawbacks it has.\r\nAnyone can be interested in these matters. I do not understand what I\r\ndid wrong. \"
\r\nThe international\r\nhuman rights organization Amnesty International announced Akmaral\r\nTabylova to be a \" prisoner of conscience \" .
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\r\n- The court satisfied the interrogator\'s\r\npetition and forcibly confine\r\nblogger Ardak Ashim in a\r\npsychiatric hospital for\r\none month. A civil activist is suspected of inciting social discord\r\nbecause of criticism of the authorities in Facebook posts.
\r\n\r\nOn the morning of March 15,\r\ntwelve people entered the home of the famous blogger Ardak Ashim in\r\nShymkent, according to her daughter\'s words. They\r\npresented a search warrant in connection with the charge\r\nunder Art. 174\r\nof the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (incitement of\r\nnational, religious, social discord) . The\r\nsearch lasted for 2 hours, all cell phones, a laptop and two\r\ncomputers were seized. After\r\nthat, two detectives forced Ardak Ashim out of the house and put her\r\nin the car.
\r\n\r\nArdak Ashim is an economist,\r\na popular blogger who delves into acute issues of human rights and\r\nthe rule of law. In\r\nparticular, her appeal to the new Minister of Labor and Social\r\nProtection M. Abylkasymova about the plans to declare unemployed\r\npeople self-employed and to impose taxes on them became widely\r\nknown.
\r\n\r\nOn March 27, the Abai\r\nDistrict Court of Shymkent (judge S.T. Ainabekov) considered\r\nand granted the petition of Bakhytzhan\r\nSydykov, an investigator of the South\r\nKazakhstan Region Department\r\nof Internal\r\nAffairs, to\r\nforcibly confine\r\nArdak Ashim in a psychiatric hospital \r\nas a security measure.
\r\n\r\nIn the narrative of the\r\ncourt decision it is said: \"The investigative body\r\nconducts a criminal case under art. 174\r\nof the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan against the person\r\nwho is registered in the social network under the name \"Ardak\r\nAshim\", and who publishes various articles against the\r\nauthorities \"( translation\r\nfrom the Kazakh language ) .
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\r\n- The court refused to mitigate punishment\r\nfor Aset Matayev, Director General of the KazTAG Information Agency\r\nand to transfer him from a general regime colony to a\r\ncolony-settlement. The\r\ncourt made such a decision despite\r\nof the positive characterization given to Aset by the administration\r\nof the colony and the consent for mitigation of the prosecutor. \r\n
\r\n\r\nOn March 16, the court of\r\nKapshagai \r\nconsidered the\r\npetition of Aset\r\nMatayev , General\r\nDirector of the KazTAG Information Agency for mitigating the\r\nsentence.
\r\n\r\nAset’s relatives hoped\r\nthat he would be transferred from the colony of the general regime to\r\na colony-settlement. The\r\nadministration of the colony characterized Aset positively and\r\nsupported the petition, the prosecutor did not object\r\neither. However,\r\nthe judge coming back from the meeting room, where he had spent quite\r\na long time, announced the refusal without any explanations.
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\r\n- The prosecutor of Medeu district of Almaty\r\ndemands to ban the issue of the analytical Internet portal Ratel.kz,\r\nand to prohibit the editor-in-chief of the edition any \"distribution\r\nof information materials under the name (on behalf of) the publisher\r\nof the Internet portal \"Ratel.kz\" and “Balborsyk.kz\".\r\n\r\n
\r\nOn\r\nMarch 30, the court of the Medeu district court of Almaty noted the\r\nclaim of the Medeu district prosecutor to declare the registration\r\ncertificate of the analytical Internet portal Ratel.kz to be no\r\nlonger in force, to prohibit its publication and the use of the\r\ndomain names \"Ratel.kz\" and \"Balborsyk. kz. \" The\r\nprosecutor also demands to ban the editor-in-chief of Ratel.kz Marat\r\nAsipov \"distribution of information materials under the name (on\r\nbehalf of) of the publisher of the Internet portal\" Ratel.kz\r\n\"and\" Balborsyk.kz \". \r\n
\r\nThe\r\nprosecutor applied for a suspension of Ratel’s publishing on any\r\ndomain name as securing the claim. OnMarch\r\n30, JudgeG.Beisenova satisfiedtheprosecutor\'spetition.\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe editorial board found out that the\r\npublication was blocked by the court\'s decision in the evening of\r\nFriday, March 30. The journalists did not receive a statement of the\r\nclaim, the editorial board was not summoned to court when the\r\ndecision to block the publication was made.
\r\n\r\nThe preliminary hearing is scheduled for April\r\n5. On April 2 searches began in the offices of Forbes Kazakhstan and\r\nRatel.kz. The groungs for the searches are unknown.
\r\nAs it was reported\r\nearlier:
\r\n\r\nAs it was reported earlier, on April 4,\r\n2017, the court compelled Ratel.kz, Forbes.kz and V. Protsentov to\r\npay KZT 50 million 200 thousand to the ex-Minister of Finance and\r\nState Revenues Zeynulla Kakimzhanov and his son Ilkhalid Kakimzhanov\r\nas compensation for moral injury;
\r\n\r\nOn March 19, 2018 the site of the information\r\nresource Ratel.kz was blocked due to the fact that \"the contact\r\ninformation assigned to the domain name of registrant is irrelevant\"\r\n(the domain of Ratel.kz was registered with Gennady Benditsky. (The\r\njournalist died after a serious illness on December 3 2017);
\r\n\r\nOn March 26, 2018 the son of Gennady Benditsky,\r\nOleg re-registered the domain of Ratel.kz in his own name.
\r\nOn March 30 Ratel.kz\r\nhit three most popular websites of Kaznet.
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In\r\nMarch 2018 eight charges of criminal offenses and crimes were brought\r\nagainst media and citizens in connection with the exercise of the\r\nright to freedom of expression , the receipt and dissemination of\r\ninformation. \r\n
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\r\n5 judicial acts were issued on\r\ncases of protection of honor, dignity and business reputation\r\n(including 1 in appeal) in March. Three of them were in favor of the\r\nmedia, journalists and citizens.
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\r\n20 letters\r\nbefore action and claimswere filed in connection with the exercise of\r\nthe right to freedom of expression in March. Claims for compensation\r\nfor moral damage in January-March amounted to 22 million 200 thousand\r\ntenge. The courts\r\ncollected\r\n 90 thousand\r\ntenge.
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\r\nThe monitoring was done\r\naccording to reports of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s correspondents \r\nand information from open sources.
\r\n\r\nHead of monitoring\r\nservice of Adil Soz Foundation Elena Tsoi
e-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz
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\r\nFor all questions regarding the \r\nmonitoring, you may also contact
info@adilsoz.kz
\r\ninfo@adilsoz.kz\r\n\r\n
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