Violations of freedom of speech in Kazakhstan. June 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 July\r\n2019.

 It reports:

 - On June 9-12, journalists covering\r\npresidential elections and protest actions faced numerous violations of their\r\nprofessional rights. On the same days, social networks and instant messengers\r\nwere blocked in Kazakhstan again.

On the\r\nelection day of June 9, large-scale actions by citizens, declaring  the elections unfair and not free, took place\r\nin Kazakhstan. Protesters offered to boycott the elections. Protests were\r\nfollowed by numerous detentions of citizens. Detentions continued until June\r\n12, when people who did not agree with the results of the elections and with\r\nthe upcoming inauguration came out to the streets

Detentions of journalists:

June 9

Petro Trotsenko,\r\nAzattyk Radio (Almaty)ws detained on the \"Astana\" square in Almaty\r\nwhile covering the detention of citizens.

Chris Rickleton,\r\nAgency France Press (AFP) correspondent for Central Asia was detained on Astana\r\nSquare in Almaty, when he tried to interview a woman.

Dmitry Tikhonov,\r\njournalist of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of\r\nLaw (Almaty) was detained while  covering\r\na peaceful demonstration against the ongoing elections.

Ainur Halliollaeva,\r\nphotojournalist of Holanews.kz (Almaty) was detained while covering an\r\nunauthorized rally.

Katya Suvorova,\r\ndirector, columnist for the Internet magazine Vlast (Almaty) was detained when\r\nshe was approaching \"Astana\" square in Almaty.

Sania Toyken, Azattyk\r\nRadio (Nur-Sultan) was detained while covering \r\ncitizens\' actions near the palace \"Zhastar\".

Sania Toyken, Azattyk\r\nRadio (Nur-Sultan). On the evening of June 9, she was taken to the police\r\ndepartment of Esilsky district of Nur-Sultan together with dozens of other\r\ndetainees.

June 10th

Assem Zhapisheva,\r\nCentral Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting, CABAR (project of the Institute\r\nfor War and Peace Reporting), Almaty was detained near \"Astana\"\r\nsquare in Almaty.

Miyat Kashibai,\r\nQamshy.kz (Almaty) was detained while \r\ncovering a meeting of independent election observers.

Shokan Alkhabaev,\r\nTengrinews.kz (Almaty) was detained on the night of June 10 to June 11\r\nnear  Sairan Lake while covering police\r\ndetentions.

12 June

Bakytzhan Kosbarmakov,\r\ncorrespondent of the newspaper “Omiray” (Almaty) was detained near\r\n\"Astana\" Square in Almaty while covering detentions.

Lukpan Akhmedyarov and\r\nthree of his colleagues - journalist Raul Uporov and two cameramen (Uralsk)were\r\ndetained on Abay Square in Uralsk while covering detentions.

- The Almaty Police Department began an\r\nofficial investigation into the beating Tengrinews.kz journalist Shokan\r\nAlkhabayev by police officers.

On the night of June 10th to 11th , Tengrinews.kz correspondent\r\nShokan Alkhabayev covered police detention in the Sayran Lake area in\r\nAlmaty. A policeman approached him and asked why he was making recording.\r\nShokan replied that he was a journalist and then the policeman first told him\r\nto stop filming, then took away the phone from the journalist. Policemen\r\napproached him, grabed and pushed him to the ground. “They started kicking me\r\non the face and on the stomach. I resisted, shouted that I am a journalist and\r\nasked to let me go. I had the journalist ID in my hand, when one of the\r\npolicemen grabbed my hand and did not let me show my ID. Then he put my hand\r\nbehind my back and took away my ID, ”says Tengrinews correspondent.

Shokan says he was left to lie on the ground. He called an ambulance,\r\nbut it did not come. Doctors of the 7th city hospital, where the journalist and\r\nhis chief arrived an hour later, documented a bruise of the soft tissues of the\r\nchest and anterior abdominal wall, abrasions in the area of the iliac wing on\r\nthe right, sedimentation of the zygoma on both sides.

The editors of Tengrinews.kz appealed to the Almaty Police Department\r\nand the Ministry of the Interior Affairs. Almaty police began an official\r\ninvestigation.

 - Lukpan Akhmedyarov, the editor-in-chief of the\r\nUralskaya Nedelya, who was detained on Abai Square in Uralsk on June 12, was\r\nfined for disobedience to a law enforcement officer.

 In the morning of June 17,\r\nLukpan Akhmedyarov, editor-in-chief of the Uralskaya Nedelya newspaper, was\r\nsummoned to the Abay police department of Uralsk for interrogation under Article\r\n667 of Part 1 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan -\r\nDisobedience to the lawful order or the requirement of the employee\r\n(serviceman) of law enforcement or special public authority, body of military\r\npolice, the bailiff, bailiff in connection with execution of official duties by\r\nthem, and is equal hindrance of their lawful activity.

From there he was taken to the administrative court of Uralsk.\r\nAccording to L.Akhmedyarov,  it became\r\nclear in court that the police had drawn up a protocol two days earlier without\r\nhis participation. Allegedly, on June 12, during the detention of journalists\r\nin the central square of the city, Akhmedyarov refused to obey the demands of\r\nthe police and showed active resistance. Lukpan explained that he really didn’t\r\nimmediately agree to go to the police van, since the head of the local police,\r\nKenzhebek Kuspaev, verbally informed him that he had  to deliver Akhmedyarov within the framework\r\nof a criminal case. However, the police officer did not provide neither\r\nsummons, nor any other documents justifying the legitimacy of his\r\ndemands.Instead, Kenzhebek Kuspanov called his colleagues and a journalist was\r\ntaken into the police car.

- On the way, one of the policemen stumbled. So in court I was charged\r\nwith allegedly     hamstring him. Their\r\nargument supporting that accusation was that the offender - that is, I - is\r\nphysically strong enough and, therefore, capable of such action, ”says Lukpan.

On June 17, a judge of the Uralsk Administrative Court B.\r\nNurmagambetova found Akhmedyarov guilty of committing an administrative offense\r\nunder Part 1 of Art. 667 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic\r\nof Kazakhstan and imposed an administrative penalty in the form of a fine in\r\nthe amount of 50,500 tenge.The journalist did not agree with the court ruling.\r\nHe filed a complaint with the Appeals Board of the West Kazakhstan Regional\r\nCourt and filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office about the unlawful\r\nactions of the police.Thus, the police protocol on an administrative offense on\r\nJune 12 was drawn up only on June 15, and Lukpan Akhmedyarov himself ws\r\ninformed about it only on June 17 in court.

“As for the legal process, the protocol, drawn up a few days after the\r\nalleged violation, and even without my participation, simply has no legal\r\nforce,” Lukpan says. - Besides a number of gross violations were committed\r\nwhile drafting the protocol, that made it impossible to consider the case.\r\nHowever, the court was not embarrassed, and the decision was announced. I\r\nconsider the decision to be unfair. Personally I regard everything that has\r\nhappened as an obstacle to professional journalism, and I intend not only to\r\nappeal the court decision, but I will seek justice for my profession.

- On June 7, \r\na group of women who called themselves mothers of many children,\r\ndisrupted a press conference on the issue of “The real problems of mothers of\r\nmany children in Kazakhstan on the example of Almaty” in the press center of\r\nKazakh International Bureau for Human Rights and  Rule of Law (KIBHRRL).

On June 7, the press center of the Kazakhstan Bureau for Human Rights\r\nand Rule of Law was to hold a press conference organized by mothers of many\r\nchildren on the issue of  “The real\r\nproblems of mothers of many children in Kazakhstan on the example of Almaty”.\r\nAccording to journalist Sergei Duvanov, before the press-conference began, a\r\ngroup of women who called themselves \r\nmothers of many children, filled the press club, leving no space for\r\narriving journalists. The women began to demand participation in the press\r\nconference and shouted that the organizers had no right to hold a press\r\nconference on behalf of mothers of many children. Attempts to stop the wrangle\r\nand  to make  the uninvited guests leave the press club\r\nfiled. As a result, the organizers of the press conference were forced to leave\r\nthe press center. With great difficulty, the staff of the press center managed\r\nto empty the room.

 - In the autumn of this year, the Ministry of\r\nInformation and Public Development will present an automated system for monitoring\r\nsocial networks and Internet resources for the presence of prohibited content.

At the plenary session of the Senate, the head of the ministry Dauren\r\nAbaev said that in the autumn of 2019 Kazakhstan will present an automated\r\nsystem for monitoring social networks and Internet resources for the presence\r\nof prohibited content.The head of the ministry replied that now the flow of\r\ninformation in the country has increased dramatically, and it has become\r\nimpossible to monitor prohibited content manually. The minister attribute\r\npropaganda of suicide, terrorism and extremism, a cult of cruelty and violence\r\nto prohibited content. According to Abaev, about 120,000 items of illegal\r\ncontent were deleted from various Internet resources over the past year.

“We remove everything that is prohibited in Kazakhstan. We transfer all\r\nmaterials to the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs,\r\nthe National Security Committee and the Security Council for taking certain\r\nprocedural actions. ”

9  judicial acts were issued 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 on cases of protection of honor,\r\ndignity and business reputation in June\r\n2019. Six of them were\r\nin favor of the media, journalists and citizens.

The following charges were filed  in connection with the exercise of the right\r\nto freedom of expression:

- 2 criminal charges, including 0 in\r\ncourt.

- 1 administrative charge\r\n(including 1 charge in violation of the election law)

- 5 claims\r\nand suits in civil procedure. Among them, 4 claims and lawsuits for protection\r\nof honor, dignity and business reputation.

- Claims\r\nfor compensation for non-pecuniary damage on cases on protection of honor,\r\ndignity and business reputation amounted to 100  thousand tenge.

The following charges were filed\r\nsince the beginning of the year:

- 20 criminal charges.

- 41\r\nclaims and suits in civil procedure.

Among\r\nthem, 37 claims and lawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business\r\nreputation.

- Claims\r\nfor compensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 68 million 500 thousand\r\ntenge. The courts collected 2 million 320  thousand tenge.

- 11 – administrative offence charge.

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