Violations of freedom of speech in Kazakhstan. March 2019

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 March\r\n2019.

It reports:

- On March 19 Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned from the presidency of\r\nKazakhstan. The Speaker of the Senate of Parliament Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev took\r\noffice as president till the end of the election term.

On March 19, Nursultan\r\nNazarbayev resigned from the presidency of Kazakhstan. Senate Speaker\r\nKasym-Zhomart Tokayev became acting president of the country.

Nursultan Nazarbayev\r\nkept the position of the chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan. The\r\nSecurity Council is a constitutional body that coordinates the implementation\r\nof a unified state policy in the field of national security and  defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan in order\r\nto preserve domestic political stability, protect the constitutional system,\r\nstate independence, territorial integrity and national interests of Kazakhstan\r\nin the international arena.

Nursultan Nazarbayev\r\nalso stayed the leader of the Nur Otan party.

On March 20,\r\nKasym-Zhomart Tokayev took office as the president of the country till the end\r\nof the presidency term.

- On March 14, at the plenary meeting in Strasbourg, the European\r\nParliament adopted a resolution on the situation of human rights in Kazakhstan.\r\nThe document mentions such violations as the vague wording of articles 174 and\r\n274 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan concerning the\r\nincitement of discord and the dissemination of deliberately false information\r\nthat the authorities use to “prosecute civil society activists and\r\njournalists”.

On March 14, at the\r\nplenary meeting in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on\r\nthe situation of human rights in Kazakhstan. The document mentions such\r\nviolations as the vague wording of articles 174 and 274 of the Criminal Code of\r\nthe Republic of Kazakhstan concerning the incitement of discord and the\r\ndissemination of deliberately false information that the authorities use to\r\n“prosecute civil society activists and journalists”.

 The resolution also saya about\r\n\"increasing legislative pressure relating to the activities of\r\nnon-governmental organizations”, of harassment of citizens who “demonstrated\r\nsome kind of support” to the banned movement DCK (Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan)\r\nthat was declared an extremist organization in Kazakhstan.The resolution\r\ncontains a number of recommendations, including the requirements to free\r\npolitical prisoners, to stop brining pressure upon  independent trade unions, to revise the\r\namendments to the law on mass media and to certain provisions of the Criminal\r\nCode of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan should stop “all forms of\r\narbitrary detentions, repressions and harassment of human rights defenders,\r\ncivil society organizations and opposition political movements,” the resolution\r\nsays. The European Parliament called on the authorities of Kazakhstan to\r\n\"follow international commitments and to respect human rights and basic\r\ncivil liberties,\" as well as \"to stop all forms of political\r\nrepressions.\"

- On March 21-22 there were mass arrests of citizens. The journalists\r\ncovering those events faced the facts of impeding their professional\r\nactivities. One of the members of a group of youngsters that actively impeded\r\njournalists\' activity had police on Svetlana Glushkova, the correspondent of\r\nPresent Time, and accused her of  \r\nbeating.

On March 21, a journalist from Uralsk,\r\nLukpan Akhmedyarov, was detained by anti-riot police on the Old square in front\r\nof the Astana akimat (mayor\'s office) for trying to keep a provocateur off from\r\na journalist who interviewed citizens about the renaming of the capital.\r\nAkhmedyarov was taken to the police station. The questions of the investigator\r\nconcerned his ties with the DCK and participation in an unauthorized rally.\r\nSince the journalist had no ties with the banned organization, he was released.\r\n

On March 22, in Kostanay, police\r\ndetained blogger Nikolaos Marmalidi, who conducted and videotaped a survey of\r\ncitizens celebrating Nauryz. The security officials explained the detention by\r\nan anonymous call about a suspicious man. The police did not give any\r\nexplanations on the reasons of the suspicions and how it related to the\r\nblogger. At the police station, the blogger was asked about his actions on the\r\nstreet before the detention. Before releasing Marmalidi, the police deleted the\r\nvideos and the interviews from the mobile phone and the video camera of the\r\nblogger.  According to Nikolaos, police\r\nalso damaged his equipment.

On March 22 in Astana, the Present Time\r\ncorrespondent Svetlana Glushkova was detained by the police while she was\r\nmaking live reporting of the detentions of citizens at the Shapagat shopping\r\ncenter. At the moment the detention, the police stated that there a certain\r\nwoman reported her to police. The journalist spent five hours at the police\r\nstation. According to Glushkova\'s lawyer Tulegen Shaikov,  no protocol was drawn up and the claims of\r\nthat woman were not presented while Glushkova was at the police station. He said\r\nthat the victim  was not there either.\r\nShaikov supossed that the purpose of the detention was to prevent Glushkova\r\nfrom being at the event and to cover it. While the lawyer was talking to the\r\ncorrespondent of Radio Azattyk, police officers, in particular, the head of the\r\nDepartment of Internal Affairs police captain Roman Malikov, served the lawyer\r\na summons to appear at the Saryarka police department.

On March 31, Svetlana Glushkova was\r\ndetained again  at the airport of the\r\ncapital, where she flew from a work trip to Almaty. She was held at the airport\r\nfor about four hours before  a protocol\r\nwas drawn up and  copies of the materials\r\nof the administrative case and a subpoena to appear on April 1 in the\r\nadministrative court of the Saryarka district of Nur-Sultan were served to her.\r\nThe correspondent of \"Present Time\" is accused of allegedly pushing a\r\ngirl who tried to prevent her from covering the arrests of the protesters on\r\nMarch 22 in  Nur-Sultan.

Human rights activists called on the\r\nKazakh authorities to stop harassing journalists.

On March 23,\r\nRadio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, that \r\nRadio Azattyk and Present Time TV channel belong to, condemned the\r\nactions of the Kazakhstani authorities against journalists of these media\r\nduring detentions in Almaty and Astana on March 22. In an official statement,\r\nRFE / RL, in particular, refers to the detention of the Present Time journalist\r\nSvetlana Glushkova on March 22 in Astana while she was covering the detentions\r\nof citizens in the capital. According to the organization’s statement, that\r\nincident is the fourth one when  Azattyk\r\nand “Present Time” journalists are detained in Kazakhstan. The cameraman who\r\nworked with Svetlana Glushkova was injured in the leg during the events of\r\nMarch 22 in Astana.The teams of Azattyk and “Present Time” also faced similar\r\nsituations in Almaty. Besides, Kuanyshbek Kari, the head of the Almaty Bureau\r\nof Azattyk \"urgently\" summoned to the akimat (mayor\'s office), where\r\nrepresentatives of city authorities and prosecutors accused Azattyk of\r\n\"one-sided coverage of political events\" and \"incitement to\r\ndiscord.\" Acting  President of RFE /\r\nRL Daisy Sindelar called the event “a blatant attempt to intimidate independent\r\njournalists and control coverage of political events in media.”

On March\r\n28, the International Organization for the Protection of the Rights of\r\nJournalists “Reporters Without Borders” called on the Kazakh authorities to\r\nstop harassing journalists. The organization tweeted: “Local authorities should\r\nstop persecuting journalists and impeding their work.”

On March\r\n29, nine non-governmental organizations appealed to the country\'s leaders\r\ndemanding to put an end to the lawlessness against journalists. The appeal is\r\naddressed to President of the Republic of Kazakhstan K.Tokaev, Secretary of the\r\nSecurity Council R.K. K.Kasymov, \r\nProsecutor General of Kazakhstan G.Nurdauletov, Minister of Internal\r\nAffairs of KKazakhstan E.Turgumbayev and the Minister of Information and Social\r\nDevelopment of the Republic of Kazakhstan, D.Abaev. The authors of the appeal\r\ndemand \"to put an end to the recently increasing lawlessness with regard\r\nto the right of citizens to freedom of expression and the right of journalists\r\nto perform their professional activities.\" The appeal was signed by the\r\nPresident of the International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech\r\n“Adil Soz” T.Kaleyeva, Chairman of the Board of the Union of Journalists of\r\nKazakhstan S. Matayev, Executive Director of Public fund “Charter for Human\r\nRights” J. Turmagambetova, Director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human\r\nRights  and the rule of law E.Zhovtis,\r\nDirector of the International Center for Journalism MediaNet  I. Brattsev, President, Public fund “League\r\nof Judicial Journalists” S. Mauletby, President, PF “Ar.Ruh.Hak” B.Toregogina,\r\nPresident of PF “International legal initiative A.Shormanbaeva, President of\r\nthe PF“ Liberty ”G.Ageleuov, Director of the NGO“ Kadir-Kasiet ”A. Ibrayeva

10 judicial acts\r\nwere issued against media and citizens in connection with the exercise of the\r\nright to freedom of expression , the receipt and dissemination of information\r\non cases of protection of honor, dignity and business reputation in March.\r\nEight of them were in favor of the media, journalists and citizens.

The following actions chrges were\r\nfiled in March in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of\r\nexpression:

- 3 criminal charges, including 3 in\r\ncourt.

- 12 claims\r\nand suits in civil procedure. Among them, 12 claims and lawsuits for protection\r\nof honor, dignity and business reputation.

- Claims\r\nfor compensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 12 million tenge in March.\r\nThe courts collected 300 thousand tenge.

The following actions chrges were\r\nfiled since the beginning of the year:

- 11 criminal charges.

- 25\r\nclaims and suits in civil procedure. Among them, 24 claims and lawsuits for\r\nprotection of honor, dignity and business reputation.

- Claims\r\nfor compensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 64 million tenge. Thecourtscollected 1 million 550 thousandtenge.

- 1 – administrative offence charge.

Sania Toiken reporter of RadioAzattyk , who\r\nwas detained on the night of March 12, 2019 in a cafe in Zhanaozen during a\r\ndinner with her friends, must pay a fine of 20 MRI (50,500 tenge) for\r\ndisobeying a lawful order or a police officer. Such a decision was made by\r\na specialized administrative court of the city of Zhanaozen that found  her guilty of committing an offense under Art.\r\n667 of the Code of Administrative Offence of Kazakhstan. As   the motivation part of the court order\r\nreads, disobedience meant that the journalist refused to go to the police\r\nstation to testify about a scuffle in a cafe, which she had not witnessed,\r\nprovided false personal data, refused a medical examination. Sania Toiken and\r\nher lawyer Tanatar Isekeshev do not agree with the decision of the court and\r\nintend to  appeal it. As it was reported,\r\nS.Toyken and her friends, had a dinner in a separate booth of the cafe and\r\nafter that they went to the exit, where they were detained by the police under\r\nthe pretext of being witnesses of a skirmish in the cafe. The police ignored\r\nall the arguments of the journalist that they did not hear anything and,\r\nmoreover, did not have the physical ability to see anything.

The monitoring was done\r\naccording to reports of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s correspondents  and\r\ninformation from open sources.

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

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