Violations of freedom of speech in Kazakhstan. July, 2018

The\r\nInternational Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech \"Adil\r\nSoz\" conducted a study of the situation with the right to freedom of\r\nexpression, receipt and dissemination of information in Kazakhstan in July\r\n2018.

It reports:

- The court dismissed the claim of journalist Gennady Benditsky\'s heirs,\r\nthat stood for their right to inherit the domain name Ratel.kz.

Oleg and Ekaterina Benditskiy stuck up to their right to inherit the domain name Ratel.kz. They filed\r\na lawsuit against the decisions and\r\nactions of Information Committee of the Mininstry of information and\r\ncommunications.

 The Benditskys\r\ndemanded:

- to declare illegal the\r\ndefendant’s actions on issuing the order No. 2 of April 18, 2018 \"On\r\ninvalidating the certificate on registration of the online edition of the\r\nAnalytical Internet Portal\" Ratel.kz \"No. 16361-SI”

-\r\nto declare defendant’s Order No. 2  illegal and to cancel it;

-\r\nto oblige the Committee of Information to eliminate the violation of the rights\r\nand legitimate interests of the heirs of Gennady Benditsky.

At\r\nthe hearings that took place on July 2, the representatives of the\r\nministry  could not answer the questions\r\nof  the plaintiffs\'s lawyer Larisa\r\nDostovalova about the meaning of the concepts that were used to ban  Ratel.kz.

Lawyers\r\nof Oleg and Catherine Benditsky insisted that the allegations that the\r\nhardware-software complex of Ratel is located abroad wewe proofless.

At\r\nthe court session on July 10, Gleb Garipov, independent technical expert\r\ninvited by plaintiffs  explained that the\r\nstatement that the \"hardware-software complex\" (APK) and\r\n\"information and communication infrastructure\" (IKI) belongs to\r\nRatel.kz and its owners  was incorrect.\r\nThe owners of APK and IKI are other companies, including foreign ones, that\r\nprovide Internet services to websites. According to G. Garipov, such services\r\nare used by  websites of statebodies as\r\nwell, including the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General\'s Office and the\r\ngovernment.

The\r\ntechnical specialist from the National Security Committee, summoned by the\r\ncourt, did not appear at the hearing again.

During\r\nthe discussions it was found out that initially the Prosecutor General\'s Office\r\nsend a letter to the Ministry of information and communications asking to check\r\nif there were any violations  committed\r\nby the site Ratel.kz. The Committee of Information declared that it\r\nhadperformed the check, found faults and issued the said order. Based on this\r\ndocument, the city prosecutor\'s office filed a lawsuit to ban the site\r\nRatel.kz, that was satisfied.

On\r\nJuly 13, the judge of the Auezov district court of Almaty, Gulzhan\r\nImanserikova, refused to satisfy the claims of Gennady Benditsky’s children.

- Saniya\r\nToiken, journalist of Radio Azattyk, \r\nsuspects a possible provocation against her: someone created a fake\r\naccount using her name and  posted a\r\nprovocative post in the  - at a Telegram\r\nmessenger chat of DVK (Democratic choice of Kazakhstan).

Someone\r\ncreated a fake account using her name and \r\nposted a provocative post in the \r\n- at a Telegram messenger chat of DVK (Democratic choice of Kazakhstan)\r\n(On March 13 court declared the DVK and its acitivities to be extremist and\r\nbanned it throughout the territory of Kazakhstan).

Saniya\r\nToiken suspects provocation: a fake post could be the reason for the\r\nprosecution, since membership in a banned organization  may incriminated for it and it can lead to\r\nimprisonment.

On\r\nJuly 11, the Azattyk radio journalist reported the incident  to the prosecutor\'s office and the Department\r\nof Internal Affairs.

- The head of the Department of Penitentiary\r\nSystem for Karaganda region demands to arraign the human rights defender Elena\r\nSemenova from Pavlodar on a criminal charge. The information about the mass\r\nmaiming in one of the prisons of the Karaganda region, voiced by Semenova\r\nbefore the deputies of the European Parliament he considered to be slander.

A human rights defender from Pavlodar, Elena Semyonova, known for\r\nprotecting the rights of prisoners, told Radio Azattyk reporter\r\nthat in the evening of July 20 her house was searched. According to her,\r\ndocuments were seized, including prisoners\' claims on torture, beatings and\r\nother humiliations. her all-in-one PC and her schoolgirl daughter\'s tablet were\r\nseized.

According to the human rights activist, the search was sanctioned by\r\nthe court of the city of Karaganda, a criminal case against her was brought by\r\nthe Department of Internal Affairs of the Karaganda region under point 3 of\r\npart 2 of Article 274 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan\r\n(Distribution of knowingly false information).

When asked by Radio Azattyk reporter why a criminal case was brought in\r\nKaraganda against a resident of Pavlodar, Semyonova said that the head of the\r\npenal-enforcement system of the Karaganda region considered her report to the\r\nEuropean Parliament deputies about the mass maiming in one of prisons of the\r\nKaraganda region to be slander and reported her to police.

On July 21, the International NGO Front Line Defenders expressed its\r\nconcern over the arrest and charges against Elena Semenova.

- The home of Yuri Dorokhov, the head of the\r\nPR-agency Insight Media, was searched \r\nwithin the framework of investigative measures taken on the claim of\r\nex-minister of state incomes Z. Kakimzhanov about the dissemination of\r\nknowingly false information. Z. Kakimzhanov demanded to arraing to a criminal\r\ncharge the journalists of online edition Ratel.kz Marat Asipov, Sapa Mekebayev,\r\nAnna Kalashnikov and a journalist of Forbes Kazakhstan magazine Alexander\r\nVorotilov.

The editor-in-chief of the analytical internet\r\nportal Ratel.kz Marat Asipov is in the status of a suspect. Sapa Mekebayev,\r\nAnna Kalashnikova and Alexander Vorotilov are targeted in the investigation\r\nas  witnesses with the right to defense.

\"I am also a witness with the right to defense - that is a step\r\naway from being a suspect. They constantlycall me in for  interrogations, seize  documents, \"-  the head of PR-agency Yuri Dorokhov wrote on\r\nhis Faсebook page.

On July 12 in his home was searched, his laptop and  his children\'s gadgets were seized .

Dorokhov be mystified at why it all happening since he has nothing to\r\ndo with Ratel.kz and Forbes Kazakhstan: \"Former partner of Mr.\r\nKakimzhanov, Vitaly Protsentov asked meto help him as a communications\r\nspecialist. I helped him to organize press conferences and to set communication\r\nwith the media. I am convinced that everyone has the right for protection.\r\nPublicity is a form of protection, sometimes it is the last hope. I was sure\r\n(and  I\'m still sure) that I was  telling the truth. Medeu distirct court of\r\nAlmaty decided that I was not and enforced about 50 million tenge from editorial\r\noffices, journalists and Protsentov. Now we are talking about criminal charges\r\nfor the same actions for which the above people were fined by court.\"

- The editor-in-chief of the banned inretnet\r\nportal  Ratel.kz Marat Asipov was\r\ninterrogated as a witness with the right to defense in connection with Z.\r\nKakimzhanov\'s claim on non-enforcement of the court ruling on his civil suit.

On July 19, the editor-in-chief of the analytical portal Ratel.kz\r\nbanned by court, Marat Asipov, was summoned for questioning to the Almaty\r\nDepartment of Internal Affairs on a new criminal case.

Pre-trial investigation was brought under art. 430 part 1 of the\r\nCriminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Non-execution of a court verdict,\r\ncourt decision or other judicial act or document) on the claim of businessman\r\nZeynulla Kakimzhanov. He accuses M. Asipov and V. Protsentov that they did not\r\npublish a refutation and did not remove the contentious articles of Gennady\r\nBenditsky from the site of Ratel.kz (Benditsky \r\ndied on December 3, 2017).

Meanwhile,  the editorial staff\r\nof Ratel asked Judge Jumumuratov to explain the way the articles had to be\r\nrefuted,

Judge T. Jumumuratov did not give an explanation.

Then the editorial board published an open letter to the then chairman\r\nof the Supreme Court, Kairat Mami.

The letter contained variants of a refutation for each article and a\r\nrequest for clarification: what exactly the editorial board should refute.

There was no answer.

\"Legal executives never came to the editorial office with an\r\nexecutive sheet in which there would be an order to comply with the court\'s\r\ndecision - publish a refutation and remove the materials of G. Benditsky,\r\n\" - journalist V. Boreyko wrote.

On March 30, 2018, Ratel.kz was blocked by the ruling of the Medeu\r\nDistrit Court of Almaty. On April 4, all other domains used by the\r\ninternet-portal were blocked.

Nevertheless, on May 28 Z. Kakimzhanov filed a cliam to police. A month\r\nlater police  began a pre-trial\r\ninvestigation.

Marat Asipov was interrogated as a witness with the right to defense in\r\nconnection  with the pre-trial\r\ninvestigation on the the claim of Z. Kakimzhanov. Asipov\'s lawyer Igor\r\nDostovalov was present at the interrogation.

The former editor of Ratel.kz did not tell about the details of the\r\ninterrogation. He also said that his lawyer would not comment. Marat Asipov\r\nnoted that the measure of restiction was not selected for him. 

4  judicial acts were issued\r\nagainst media and citizens in connection with the exercise of the right to\r\nfreedom of expression , the receipt and dissemination of information on cases\r\nof protection of honor, dignity and business reputation (including 2 in appeal)\r\nin July. Two of them were in favor of the media, journalists and citizens. 

The following actions were taken since the beginning of the year in\r\nconnection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression:

- 25 criminal charges. Including in court - 10

- 42 claims and suits in civil procedure. Among them, 33 claims and\r\nlawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation. Claims for\r\ncompensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 229 million 300 thousand 1\r\ntenge in January-July. The courts collected 190 thousand tenge.