Violations of freedom of speech in Kazakhstan. July 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 July 22, a group of women\r\nattacked journalists and speakers at a press conference at the Kazakhstan\r\nInternational Bureau for Human Rights. The police brought an action of\r\narbitrariness. Human rights activists insist on brining actions of interfering\r\nwith professional activity of a journalist, hooliganism, robbery.

On July 22,\r\nat 11 AM, the press conference on the case of Oksana Shevchuk, who is accused\r\nof being connected with the banned organization of Democratic Choice of\r\nKazakhstan (DCK), was scheduled at the Kazakhstan International Bureau for\r\nHuman Rights. The press-conference  was\r\ndisrupted by a group of aggressive women.

Five\r\nminutes before the press conference, when media representatives and speakers\r\nhad already gathered in the hall, more than a dozen women suddenly burst into\r\nthe room. They shouted, pulled out cameras from cameramen, cell phones from the\r\naudience, fought, obstructed making video.

As a result\r\nof the pogrom, the camera of representatives of Radio Azattyk was damaged, the\r\ntelevision camera of Almaty TV journalists also was damaged, the cell phones of\r\njournalists Sergey Duvanov, Margarita Khodus were stolen, a smartphone and a\r\ncamera were stolen from KazTAG correspondents. \r\nThe police officers called to the scene, did not prevent the three most\r\nactive of them from leaving the building. Only one of the attackers was\r\ndetained.

In connection with the incident, 8 complaints were\r\nfiled to police. Five of them - from the organizers of the press conference and\r\njournalists, three - from those who allegedly suffered bodily harm by the media\r\nand representatives of the organizers of the press conference.The police began\r\nan investigation under Article 389 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan “arbitrariness”.

The Adil Soz International Foundation for the\r\nProtection of Freedom of Speech believes that the purpose of the attack on\r\njournalists in the office of the Human Rights Bureau was to destroy free\r\ndialogue platform and intimidate journalists and civil activists. Adil Soz\r\ncalled the disruption of the July 22 press conference the apogee of criminal\r\nassaults.The International Fund for the Protection of Freedom of Speech\r\n\"Adil Soz\" demands brining action of Art. 158 of the Criminal Code of\r\nthe Republic of Kazakhstan \"Interfering with legal professional activity\r\nof journalist\", and conducting the investigation openly and transparently.

On July 23, on the sidelines of the government session\r\nthe Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Yerlan\r\nTurgumbayev, commenting on the attack on journalists, called the incident a\r\nquarrel between the two sides. The Minister of the Interior Affairs categorically\r\nrejected the version of human rights activists that the attack on journalists\r\nand the disruption of the press conference were a “planned action”.

 On July 29, the\r\nKazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of  Law (KIBHRRL) addressed the head of the\r\nAlmaty Police Department (DP) with a message due to the fact that the DP\r\nbrought an action on the fact of a group of women attacking the speakers of the\r\npress conference and journalists under the article “Arbitrariness”. KIBHRRL\r\nbelieves that the actions of the attackers can be qualified under the articles\r\n“Hooliganism”, “Interfering with legal professional activity of journalist”,\r\n“Robbery”. Also, KIBHRRL requested to make evaluation of the actions of the\r\nlocal police officer R. Asaev, whose \r\ninaction \"practically did not prevent illegal encroachments on the\r\nhealth and property of citizens, did not fulfill the duties of a\r\npoliceman.\"

On July 30, on the sidelines of the government\r\nsession, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan, Yerlan Turgumbayev,\r\nanswering Azattyk’s question about the number of the attackers that were\r\ndetained and the course of the investigation,\' he said: “Those women were not\r\ndetained. These women filed complaints with [the police]. The Almaty Department\r\nof the Interior is considering the applications.” The Minister did not provide\r\nany further information on this case.

- M. Ablyazov, the leader of the Democratic Choice of\r\nKazakhstan, that court declared an extremist movement,  called on his supporters to protest rally on\r\nJuly 6. Rallies took place  in\r\nNur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktobe, Shymkent, Aktau, Karaganda, Uralsk and\r\nUst-Kamenogorsk. Massive police detentions of citizens took place during th\r\nrallies, that lasted till late  night.

On July 6,\r\nmasked young men again impeding journalists work. They not just used  posters and open umbrellas tocover the\r\ncameras, an unknown person sprayed gas from a spray can. The police ignored the\r\ndemands of media representatives to take action against masked men.

On the\r\nevening of July 6, Orken Joyamergen, Azattyk reporter in Nur-Sultan and\r\ncameraman Yerzhan Amirkhanov were attacked by an unknown man who sprayed pepper\r\ngas from a spray can. Other journalists standind near them suffered as\r\nwell.  A policeman that was standing\r\nnearby did not respond to the journalists\' screams that gas was sprayed .

“If there\r\nthe pepper gas got to our faces, we would not be able to continue working,” the\r\nAzattyk reporter said.

On July 16,\r\nAzattyk radio employees in Nur-Sultan Orken Joyamergen, Yerzhan Amirkhanov and\r\nGanizat Ospanov filed a complaint addressed to the Prosecutor General Gizat\r\nNurdauletov about the frequent facts of impeding professional activity, threats\r\nagainst journalists and inaction of police. The Prosecutor General\'s Office\r\npromised to give an answer within 15 days.

International\r\nNews Agency “KazTAG” reports about threats against journalists trying to\r\ninterview detainees near the Central Stadium in Almaty: “Law enforcers warned\r\nthat any attempt to take comments from people detained by the police would be\r\nregarded as provocation and journalists who would try tocommunicate with\r\ncitizens would also be detained”

- Zhazgul Egemberdieva, a reporter for Nastoyaschee\r\nVremya (Real Time), was expelled from Kazakhstan for violating immigration\r\nlaws.

On\r\nJuly 5, the Specialized Inter-district Administrative Court of Astana found the\r\njournalist guilty of an administrative offense under Part 2 of Art. 517\r\nAdministrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. J. Egemberdieva arrived in\r\nKazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan on May 3 to cover the election campaign on the eve\r\nof early presidential election and had to register at the place of stay if her\r\nstay in the country exceeded 30 calendar days.

In\r\ncourt, the journalist pleaded guilty and explained that the offense was\r\ncommitted through lack of knowledge of the requirements of the law. Her lawyer\r\nasked for the punishment in the form of a fine; the prosecutor asked for  administrative expulsion from the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan.

Judge\r\nA. Sadvakasova agreed with the opinion of the prosecutor, having made the\r\nrelevant decision.

The\r\njournalist had to leave Kazakhstan within 10 days after the decision takes\r\nlegal effect.

3  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 July\r\n2019. Two 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:

- 3 criminal charges, including 1 in\r\ncourt.

- 2 administrative charge

- 5 claims\r\nand suits in civil procedure. Among them, all 5 claims and lawsuits for\r\nprotection of 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 2 mln  tenge.

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

- 23 criminal charges.

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

Among\r\nthem, 42 claims and lawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business\r\nreputation.

- Claims\r\nfor compensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 71 million 500 thousand\r\ntenge. The courts collected 2 million 290  thousand tenge.

- 14 – 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