The International\r\nFoundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech \"Adil Soz\"\r\nconducted a study of the situation with the right to freedom of\r\nexpression, receipt and dissemination of information in Kazakhstan in\r\nJunenh 2018.
\r\n
\r\n
It\r\nreports: \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n- \"The\r\nUralsk Week\" journalists are checked for involvement in the\r\norganization of illegal rallies because of the comment posted on\r\nYouTube
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nTamara Yeslyamova\r\nis back to the editorial office after interrogation at the Western\r\nKazkahtsan regional Department of Internal affairs. The police\r\ntold her that the pre-trial investigation was initiated after an\r\nunidentified individual commented on YouTube video where he/she\r\ncalled to go to the rally. Since the YouTube video was a repost of\r\nvideo from the \"Uralsk Week\" website, the publisher of the\r\nnewspaper Tamara Yeslyamova and the administrator of the newspaper\r\nwebsite and its pages in social networks Raul\r\nUporov\r\nwere summoned for interrogation as witnesses.
\r\n\r\nAccording to the journalists, if it were not\r\nfor the police and the unknown commenter, they would not even know\r\nthat someone in Kazakhstan was planning to rally.
\r\n\r\nAfter being interrogated by an investigator T.\r\nYeslyamova was invited to another room for a talk with a member of\r\nthe prosecutor\'s office. He tried to give her a warning about the\r\ninadmissibility of violating the law \"On the Order of\r\nOrganization and Conducting Peace Meetings, Rallies, Processions,\r\nPickets and Demonstrations in the Republic of Kazakhstan.\"\r\nTamara Yeslyamova refused to sign anything.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nSanat Urnaliev,\r\nwho was waiting near the Dapartment of Internal Affairs for\r\nYeslyamova to come back from the interrogation, was also summoned for\r\ninterrogation. A police officer served summons to him after the\r\njournalist recorded an interview with the publisher of the newspaper.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nAccording to the Facebook\r\npost by the editor of the Uralsk Week Lukpan\r\nAkhmedyarov,\r\nhe and correspondent Maria\r\nMelnikova\r\nhas just been served summons fro interrogation. Summons has been\r\nserved at the editorial office.
\r\nOn June 18, the publisher\r\nof the newspaper \"Uralskaya Nedelya\" Tamara Yeslyamova\r\nreceived a summons to the Department of Internal Affairs of the\r\nWestern Kazakhstan region for interrogation as a witness in the\r\nframework of a criminal case.The summons were served was by two\r\npolice officers, who refused to tell what criminal case was the\r\nreason for interrogation.Raul Uporov, administrator of uralskweek.kz\r\nwas summoned fro interrogation as a witness as well . He also failed\r\nto find out the reason for the summons.
\r\n\r\nTamara Yeslyamova is back to the editorial\r\noffice after interrogation at the Western Kazkahtsan regional\r\nDepartment of Internal affairs. The police told her that the\r\npre-trial investigation was initiated after an unidentified\r\nindividual commented on YouTube video where he/she called to go to\r\nthe rally. Since the YouTube video was a repost of video from the\r\n\"Uralsk Week\" website, the publisher of the newspaper\r\nTamara Yeslyamova and the administrator of the newspaper website and\r\nits pages in social networks Raul Uporov were summoned for\r\ninterrogation as witnesses.
\r\n\r\nAccording to the journalists, if it were not\r\nfor the police and the unknown commenter, they would not even know\r\nthat someone in Kazakhstan was planning to rally.
\r\n\r\nAfter being interrogated by an investigator T.\r\nYeslyamova was invited to another room for a talk with a member of\r\nthe prosecutor\'s office. He tried to give her a warning about the\r\ninadmissibility of violating the law \"On the Order of\r\nOrganization and Conducting Peace Meetings, Rallies, Processions,\r\nPickets and Demonstrations in the Republic of Kazakhstan.\"\r\nTamara Yeslyamova refused to sign anything.
\r\nOn\r\nJune 19 Sanat Urnaliev, correspondent of Radio Azattyk, who was\r\nwaiting near the Dapartment of Internal Affairs for Yeslyamova to\r\ncome back from the interrogation, was also summoned for\r\ninterrogation. \r\n
\r\nAzattyk reports that\r\npolice asked Sanat Urnaliev if he had any relation to the \"Urals\r\nWeek\", whose journalists were summoned to the Department of\r\nInternal Affairs. The police was investigating the case in connection\r\nwith the commentary posted on the newspaper YouTube channel , which\r\nallegedly called for a rally organized by the movement of the\r\nDemocratic Choice of Kazakhstan, banned in the country. Police tried\r\nto hand in warning about the \"inadmissibility\" of\r\nparticipation in the activities of the organization, which the court\r\nrecognized as extremist to Azattyk reporter. Urnaliev refused to\r\naccept the warning, arguing that he had nothing to do with extremist\r\norganizations.
\r\nThe editor of the \"Uralsk\r\nWeek\" Lukpan Akhmedyarov and the correspondent of the newspaper\r\nMaria Melnikova were also summoned to the city\'s department of\r\ninternal affairs.
\r\n\r\nOn June 19, the editor of the newspaper \"Uralsk\r\nWeek\" (\"Uralskaya Nedelya\") Lukpan Akhmedyarov told in\r\nFacebook about interrogation in the Department of Internal Affairs of\r\nUralsk. The only thing the investigator wanted to know - how to find\r\nthe author of the commentary. L. Akhmedyarov advised the investigator\r\nto apply to YouTube administration.
\r\n\r\nWhen the interrogation was over, a man in\r\nplainclothes entered the room and asked Akhmedyarov to go to\r\nanother office to talk with the \"bastyk\" (big boss) -\r\nMuslim Zhardemov. The journalist refused to go since M. Zhardemov’\r\nname was not in the summons. The journalist said that he would not go\r\nto talk to him until he is summoned. When Lukpan returned to the\r\neditorial office, it turned out that policemen had visited his office\r\nand home trying to serve summons, but neither his wife nor colleagues\r\nagreed to accept it.
\r\n\r\nThe policeman came to the editorial office\r\nagain at 7.45 PM and handed over summons, saying that the\r\ninvestigator Uralsk Police Directorate, captain Baurzhan Doskaliyev,\r\nsummoned Akhmedyarov for interrogation as an… INVESTIGATOR.\r\nInvestigator Doskaliyev said to Lukpan that he summoned him in\r\nrelation to the criminal case brought against the Uralsk pensioner\r\nBakisa Khalelova, who participated in a rally in Uralsk on May 10.\r\nLukpan confirmed that he was aquainted with that woman, but ponited\r\nout that since the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan prohibits to perform investigative actiona after 8 PM,\r\ninterrogation must be stopped. \r\n
\r\n\r\nHowever, he could not leave the building of the\r\nInternal Affairs Directorate. Baurzhan Doskaliyev ordered to lock the\r\ndoors of the building and not let Akhmedyarov out. A few minutes\r\nlater, Daniyar Rakishev, the chief of the Local police service of the\r\nInternal Affairs directorate of Uralsk, criminalist with a video\r\ncamera, prosecutor and head of the internal policy of the city akimat\r\n(local governing body) Erbol Kushekov arrived to the place. The\r\nprosecutor read out a clarification of the law on the inadmissibility\r\nof participation in the DVK (Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan) party\r\nand its support, since this organization was recognized as extremist\r\nby the decision of the Esil court. Akhmedyarov was asked whether he\r\nintended to go to the rally, if it would take place. Lukpan responded\r\nthat as a journalist he would definitely go to cover this event and\r\nadded that the Criminal Code contains an article \"Obstruction of\r\nthe professional activities of a journalist\", and it would be a\r\ncrime to detain him there on June 23 while performing his\r\njournalistic activities.
\r\n\r\nWhen Lukpan was about to go home, it turned out\r\nthat his car had been blocked by a police car. Akhmedyarov called the\r\ntraffic police. After that the owners of the police “Niva” (a\r\ntype of jeep produced in Russia) came to their car quickly and\r\ndrove off hastily. Later, the journalist received a phone call from\r\nthe traffic police and was told that a protocol had been drawn up\r\nagainst the offender, and the owner of the “Niva” was fined.
\r\n\r\nTamara Yeslyamova, publisher of the Uralsk\r\nWeek, journalists Raul Uporov and correspondent of Radio Azattyk\r\nSanat Urnaliev were also interrogated in the Department of Internal\r\nAffairs. Maria Melnikova was also served summons for interrogation.
\r\n
\r\n
On\r\nJune 20, the Department of Internal Affairs of the West Kazakhstan\r\nregion, through one of the Uralsk editions, reported: \"On June\r\n16 this year a video named \"Residents of Sulukol of Zelenovsky\r\ndistrict of West Kazakhstan Region suffer from the smell of hydrogen\r\nsulfide\" was posted on the video channel of the newspaper\"\r\nUralskaya Nedelya . A user under nickname Zhan Baizhanov commented\r\nthe video calling the residents of the district to go to the rally.\r\nThis fact was registered in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial\r\nInvestigations on 16.06.2018.
\r\nAccording\r\nto the Department of Internal Affairs, police conducts a set of\r\noperational and investigative actions to indentify the user with the\r\nnickname \"Jean Baizhanov\" in order to monitor the\r\nsocio-political situation.
\r\nIn\r\nthis connection, the owner and editor of the newspaper \"Uralskaya\r\nNedelya\" T. Yeslyamova and photo correspondent R. Uporov were\r\ninterrogated in the DVD of the West Kazakhstan Region as witnesses.
\r\nAccording\r\nto the head of the human rights organization Freedom House-Kazakhstan\r\nVictoria Tyuleneva, the police tried to interpret its actions as\r\ncorresponding to the regulatory decision of the Supreme Court of the\r\nRepublic of Kazakhstan \"On some issues of application of the\r\nnorms of the Special Part of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan\r\non Administrative Offenses\" dated 6/10/2017. The court explains:\r\n\"16. (...) Prior to receiving permission to hold a mass event,\r\nits organizer, as well as other persons, shall not have the right to\r\nannounce in the mass media, Internet or other information networks\r\nabout the date, place and time of such event, to produce and\r\ndistribute leaflets, posters and other similar materials about it.\r\nViolation of this requirement creates the responsibility of the\r\norganizer under part three of Article 488 of the Code of\r\nAdministrative Offenses for violating the procedure for organizing a\r\npublic event. \"
\r\n
\r\n
-\r\nOleg and Ekaterina Benditskiy seek legal redress to inherit the\r\ndomain name Ratel.kz. Court hearings began on the lawsuit of\r\njournalist Gennady Benditsky\'s heirs to the Information Committee of\r\nthe Mininstry of information and communications .
\r\nOn May 28, Judge of\r\nMedeu District Court of Almaty Gulmira Beysenova banned the online\r\nedition of Ratel.kz, canceled registration and banned the use of the\r\ndomain name Ratel.kz and duplicating names in the space of the\r\nKazakhstan Internet media segment for one year.
\r\nIn addition, the\r\neditor-in-chief of the analytical Internet portal Marat Asipov was\r\nprohibited from disseminating information materials under the name\r\nRatel.kz in the media, Internet resources and on the domain names\r\nRatel.kz, Balborsyk.kz, Wildratel.com, Itau.kz and on other domain\r\nnames.
\r\nThe trial was initiated\r\nby the prosecutor of Medeu district of Almaty A. Aitzhanov. The\r\nreasons behind the prosecutor\'s demand to ban the media and to\r\nprohibit Marat Asipov to disseminate information materials under the\r\nname of the Internet portal\" Ratel.kz \"and\"\r\nBalborsyk.kz \" were the following:
\r\n- publication of\r\ninformation using the domain Ratel.kz after the death of its owner,\r\nGennady Benditsky (the domain name Ratel.kz was registered with\r\nGennady Benditsky, who died after a serious illness on December 3,\r\n2017);
\r\n- Usurpation of the \r\nrights of Ratel.kz owner by Balborsyk.kz;
\r\n- the hardware and\r\nsoftware complex of Ratel.kz is located outside the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan;
\r\n- publication of\r\narticles in Kazakh and English, although only Russian is indicated.in\r\nthe certificate of registration of Ratel.kz \r\n
\r\nAccording to the\r\nprosecutor all the above violates the norms of the \"Rules for\r\nRegistration, Use and Distribution of Domain Names in the Space of\r\nthe Kazakhstan Internet Segment\" (paragraphs 17-23) and the Law\r\non the Mass Media (Clauses 5, 6, art. 10, items 3, 4 of article 13).
\r\nOleg\r\nand Ekaterina Benditskiy stuck up to their\r\nright to inherit the domain name Ratel.kz and took legal actions\r\nagainst the\r\ndecisions and actions of Information Committee of the Mininstry of\r\ninformation and communications at the\r\nAuezov District Court of Almaty.
\r\n\r\n The Benditskys demanded:
\r\n\r\n- to declare illegal the defendant’s actions\r\non issuing the order No. 2 of April 18, 2018 \"On invalidating\r\nthe certificate on registration of the online edition of the\r\nAnalytical Internet Portal\" Ratel.kz \"No. 16361-SI”
\r\n\r\n- to declare defendant’s Order No. 2 illegal\r\nand to cancel it;
\r\n\r\n- to oblige the Committee of Information to\r\neliminate the violation of the rights and legitimate interests of the\r\nheirs of Gennady Benditsky.
\r\nOn June 5 judge\r\nG.Imanserikova initiated civil case on that lawsuit. \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
-\r\nSeytkazy Mataev re-elected\r\nchairman of the board of the Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nPortback election conference of the Union of\r\nJournalists of Kazakhstan was held on June 14.
\r\n\r\nJournalists from all regions of Kazakhstan took\r\npart in the conference via video link. The Board\'s report was\r\ndiscussed and adopted, plans and tasks for the forthcoming period\r\nwere determined. It was stated that many young journalists with\r\nactive civic stance have joined the Union recently, substantive work\r\nhas been done on holding creative competitions, seminars, roundtables\r\nand other events and international contacts of Kazakhstani\r\njournalists with colleagues from China and Ukraine have been\r\nenhanced. The need for active participation in lawmaking, protection\r\nof journalists\' rights and freedoms, sensitivity to veterans, and the\r\nuse of their experience for the training of young cadres was brought\r\ninto focus. The participants of the conference approved the plan of\r\npreparation for the 60th anniversary of the Union that will be\r\ncelebrated next year.
\r\n\r\nThe members of the governing bodies of the\r\nUnion were elected. Seytkazy Mataev was elected the chairman of the\r\nboard of the Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan.
\r\n\r\nThe Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan is the\r\nlargest creative organization of the country, with branches in Astana\r\nand Almaty and all regions of Kazkahstan. It unites about 5 thousand\r\njournalists of newspapers, television, radio and online editions.
\r\n
\r\n
4\r\n judicial acts were issued against media and citizens in\r\nconnection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression ,\r\nthe receipt and dissemination of information on cases of protection\r\nof honor, dignity and business reputation (including 2 in appeal and\r\n1 in cassation) in June. Two of them were in favor of the media,\r\njournalists and citizens. \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
28\r\n letters before action and claims were filed in connection with\r\nthe exercise of the right to freedom of expression since the\r\nbeginning of the year. 22 of them were letters before action and\r\nclaims on protection of honor, dignity and business reputation.\r\nClaims for compensation for moral damage in January-May amounted to\r\n228 million 200 thousand and 1 tenge.\r\nThe courts collected 90 thousand tenge.
\r\nThe\r\nfollowing actions were taken since the beginning of the year in\r\nconnection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression:
\r\n-\r\n21 criminal charges. Including in court - 10
\r\n-\r\n34 claims and suits in civil procedure. Among them, 25 claims and\r\nlawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation.\r\nClaims for compensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 228\r\nmillion 300 thousand 1 tenge in January-June. The\r\ncourts collected 90 thousand tenge. \r\n
\r\nOn May 28, Judge of\r\nMedeu District Court of Almaty Gulmira Beysenova banned the online\r\nedition of Ratel.kz, canceled registration and banned the use of the\r\ndomain name Ratel.kz and duplicating names in the space of the\r\nKazakhstan Internet media segment for one year.
\r\nIn addition, the\r\neditor-in-chief of the analytical Internet portal Marat Asipov was\r\nprohibited from disseminating information materials under the name\r\nRatel.kz in the media, Internet resources and on the domain names\r\nRatel.kz, Balborsyk.kz, Wildratel.com, Itau.kz and on other domain\r\nnames.
\r\nThe trial was initiated\r\nby the prosecutor of Medeu district of Almaty A. Aitzhanov. The\r\nreasons behind the prosecutor\'s demand to ban the media and to\r\nprohibit Marat Asipov to disseminate information materials under the\r\nname of the Internet portal\" Ratel.kz \"and\"\r\nBalborsyk.kz \" were the following:
\r\n- publication of\r\ninformation using the domain Ratel.kz after the death of its owner,\r\nGennady Benditsky (the domain name Ratel.kz was registered with\r\nGennady Benditsky, who died after a serious illness on December 3,\r\n2017);
\r\n- Usurpation of the \r\nrights of Ratel.kz owner by Balborsyk.kz;
\r\n- the hardware and\r\nsoftware complex of Ratel.kz is located outside the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan;
\r\n- publication of\r\narticles in Kazakh and English, although only Russian is indicated.in\r\nthe certificate of registration of Ratel.kz \r\n
\r\nAccording to the\r\nprosecutor all the above violates the norms of the \"Rules for\r\nRegistration, Use and Distribution of Domain Names in the Space of\r\nthe Kazakhstan Internet Segment\" (paragraphs 17-23) and the Law\r\non the Mass Media (Clauses 5, 6, art. 10, items 3, 4 of article 13).
\r\nCourt hearings\r\nhas continued since March 30. The children of the journalist Gennady\r\nBenditsky, Oleg Benditsky and the minor Katya (in the person of\r\nGennady\'s wife Anna Ustinova) took part in the process as third\r\nparties who claimed independent claims on the subject of the dispute.
\r\nAt a meeting on\r\nApril 19 it became known that on April 18, the Committee of\r\nInformation of the Ministry of Information and Communications of the\r\nRepublic of Kazakhstan issued Order No. 2 \"On invalidating the\r\ncertificate of registration of the online publication of the\r\n\"Analytical Internet Portal Ratel.kz \". The reason for\r\nissuing an order was the instruction of the Prosecutor General\'s\r\nOffice.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nThe monitoring was\r\ndone according to reports of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s\r\ncorrespondents and information from open sources.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nHead of monitoring\r\nservice of Adil Soz Foundation Elena Tsoi
e-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nFor all questions\r\nregarding the monitoring, you may also contact
info@adilsoz.kz
\r\ninfo@adilsoz.kz
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
