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 April 2018.
\r\n\r\n- The Almaty police initiated a pre-trial investigation on the claim of\r\nex-minister of state incomes Z. Kakimzhanov, that accused journalists of\r\nRatel.kz and Forbes in deliberately spreading false information. The editorial\r\noffices were searched. The civil process on banning Ratel.kz continues. The\r\njudge made an additional ban – she banned the page \"Analytical portal\r\nratel.kz\" in Facebook.
\r\n- Akmaral Tobylova, a resident of\r\nAlmaty, was released from house arrest on bail of 2 million tenge. She\r\ncontinues to be under investigation on suspicion of \"financial\r\nsupport\" of the unregistered movement \"Democratic Choice of\r\nKazakhstan\" (DVK), that court declared to be an extremist organization.\r\nAkmaral Tobylova said that she did not understand the reasons of the suspicions, since her only fault was\r\nvisiting the pages of DVK. Human rights activists believe: A. Tobylova was detained for the peaceful exercise of her right for freedom of expression.
\r\nOn March 15 Almaly District Court\r\nof Almaty varied Akmaral Tobylova\'s preventive measure to house arrest.\r\nAccording to Radio Azattyk, Akmaral\r\nTobylova\'s relatives constantly\r\ncomplained that she cou.d not receive necessary gynecological consultations\r\nrelated to her pregnancy because she\r\ncould not leave home due to house arrest.
\r\nOn April 12, the district court ruled to release Akmaral Tobylova on bail\r\nin the amount of 2 million 405 thousand tenge. On April 13, A. Tobolova\'s brother Nurtai paid the\r\nnecessary amount, and the woman was released from house arrest.
\r\nOn April 18, the international organization Amnesty International called\r\non the Kazakh authorities to stop the criminal prosecution against Akmaral\r\nTobylova. Human rights activists noted in their statement that Akmaral Tobylova\r\nwas charged only for having \"looked through\" pages of the\r\n\"Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan\" (DVK) on the Web.
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- The court extended the term of\r\ncompulsory treatment in a mental hospital for activist Ardak Ashim for another\r\nmonth. The blogger is suspected of\r\ninciting social discord by critiсizing of the authorities in her Facebook posts. Ardak\'sdaughter Ainur and human rights\r\nactivist E. Zhovtis stated a lot of violations in this case committed by the\r\nemployees of the Department of Internal Affairs of the South Kazakhstan Region.\r\n
\r\nOn April\r\n16, Ardak Ashim’s daughter Ainur and human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis\r\nconducted a press conference at the International Bureau for Human Rights and\r\nRule of Law. They declared a number of violations in this case committed by the\r\nemployees of the Department of Internal Affairs of the South Kazakhstan region.\r\n
\r\nArdak Ashim’s daughter Ainur said that her mother is mentally healthy. According\r\nto her, the abstract from Ardak Ashim’s medical record is fake, since it\r\ncontains a lot of inconsistencies to her mother\'s personal data. Ardak Ashim\r\nhad never been registered with mental illnesses and her medical records don not\r\ncontain any information of mental deseases.
\r\nAccording to Ardak Ashim\'s daughter, no one had ever offered her or\r\nother relatives to take care of Ardak. The investigator Bakhytzhan Syzdykov\r\ncalled the blogger to come on March 31, 2018. But when Ardak came she was taken\r\nto a mental health institution by an ambulance and under the guard of special\r\npolice force unit soldier. Ardak Ashim is detained at the medial institution\r\nand neither her daughter, nor her husband, father or other relatives were\r\nallowed to see her for three days.
\r\nAinur fears that medications that are given to her mother at the\r\nhospital may do seriuos harm to her health. Yevgeny Zhovtis considers this situation to be “punitive psychiatry”,\r\nwhich was used in the Soviet era against dissenters. He believes that, taking\r\ninto condideration the political, legal and medical aspects of the case, it is\r\nnecessary to invite an independent psychiatrist from abroad and to demand the\r\nrelease of Ardak Ashim before the trial.
\r\nOn April 27, the Abay district court of\r\nShymkent extended the term of Ardak’s compulsory treatment in a mental hospital\r\nfor another month.
\r\nKazakhstani human rights activists included\r\nArdak Ashim’s name to the \"list of political prisoners\".
\r\nThe international human rights organization\r\nAmnesty International (AI) recognized Ardak Ashim, activist and blogger from\r\nShymkent \"a prisoner of conscience\".
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- The\r\nterm of imprisonment in a general regime colony for the civil activist Talgat\r\nAyan, convicted of inciting social discord, was changed to restriction of freedom. Another civil\r\nactivist Max Bokaev continues to serve his sentence in the colony.
\r\nOn April 13, the Aktyubinsk\r\nregional court replaced the unserved\r\nprison sentence in a general regime colony for Atyrau civil activist Talgat\r\nAyan to restriction of freedom. On April 28, a civil activist was released from\r\nthe colony.
\r\nAs it was reported, on\r\nNovember 28, 2016, Atyrau court No. 2 \r\nfound civil activists Max Bokaev and Talgat Ayan guilty of disseminating\r\ndeliberately false information during public events \"(Article 274, part 4,\r\nparagraph 2 of the criminal code of the Republic of Kazakhstan), inciting\r\nsocial, national, clan, racial, class or religious discord \"(Article 174,\r\npart 2) and violation of the procedure for organizing and holding meetings,\r\nrallies, pickets, street processions and demonstrations\" (Article 400).
\r\nThe court sentenced them to\r\nfive years of imprisonment with serving their sentence in a general regime\r\ncolony and banned their public activity for three years.
\r\nOn January 20, 2017, the\r\nAppeal Board of the Atyrau Regional Court upheld the verdict of the court.
\r\nThe reason for the criminal\r\nprosecution were posts on the Max Bokaev\r\nand Talgat Ayan\'s perosnal Facebook pages. The activists in their post told\r\nthat they applied for permission to hold a rally on the \"land issue\"\r\non May 21, 2016, and discussed the rules of behaviour at the rally that would\r\nprevent any breach of the country\'s laws. The posts were published till it\r\nbecame known that Atyrau Akimat (city administration) refused to premit the\r\nrally.
\r\nMax Bokaev continues\r\nserving his term in the colony EU-164/3 in Petropavlovsk.
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- Director\r\nGeneral of \"KazTAG\" news agency Aset Matayev was transferred from the\r\ngeneral penal colony to the\r\ncolony-settlement.
\r\nOn October 3, 2016, Akbulat Kurmantayev, a judge of\r\ncourt No. 2 in the Yesil district of Astana, sentenced Aset Matayev, general\r\ndirector of the news agency KazTAG, to 5 years of imprisonment with\r\nconfiscation of property and deprivation of the right to hold managerial posts\r\nrelated to organizational and financially accountable functions in state and\r\ncommercial organizations for 10 years, with the serving the sentence in general\r\npenal colony. Aset Matayev was found guilty of committing a criminal offense\r\nunder Article 190 part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
\r\nHis father, chairman of the board of the Union of\r\nJournalists of Kazakhstan Seytkazy Matayev, was found guilty of committing\r\ncriminal offenses under Article 245 part 3; Art. 190 part. 4 item 2 of the\r\nCriminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He was sentenced to six years of\r\nimprisonment with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to hold\r\nmanagerial posts related to organizational and financial and material\r\naccountable functions in state and commercial organizations for ten years, with\r\nserving a sentence in a general penal colony.
\r\nAset and Seytzazy Matayevs pleaded not guilty.
\r\nOn November 16, 2017, the Kapshagai City Court of\r\nAlmaty oblast granted the request for parole of the chairman of the board of\r\nthe Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan Seytkazy Matayev.
\r\nOn December 4, Seitkazy Matayev was released from the colony in the village Zarechny.
\r\nOn March 16, the Kapshagay court refused to grant\r\nAset Matayev a mitigation of the punishment - transfer from a general penal\r\ncolony to a colony-settlement.
\r\nOn April 24, the Almaty Regional Court reverse the\r\ndecision of a lower court and decided to transfer the Director General of\r\n\"KazTAG\" news agency to a colony-settlement at the place of\r\nresidence.
\r\nThe court took into account that Aset Matayev had\r\nno penalties, but was granted a \"second positive degree of behavior\"\r\nand had a number of incentives and gratitudes.
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In April 2018 two charges of criminal offenses and\r\ncrimes were brought against media and\r\ncitizens in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression\r\n, the receipt and dissemination of information. 6 judicial acts were\r\nissued on cases of protection of honor, dignity and business reputation\r\n(including 3 in appeal). Four of them\r\nwere in favor of the media, journalists and citizens.
\r\n24 letters before\r\naction and claims were filed in connection with the exercise of the right to\r\nfreedom of expression since the beginning of the year, icluding 19 claims for of protection of honor,\r\ndignity and business reputation. Claims for compensation for moral damage in January-April amounted to\r\n22 million 200 thousand and one tenge. Thecourtscollected 90 thousandtenge.
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The\r\nmonitoring was done according to reports of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s\r\ncorrespondents and information from open sources.
\r\nHead of monitoring service\r\nof Adil Soz Foundation Elena Tsoi
\r\ne-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz
\r\n
For all questions regarding\r\nthe monitoring, you may also contact
\r\ninfo@adilsoz.kz
