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 November\r\n2019.
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It reports:
\r\n- The campaign in defense of Amangeldy Batyrbekov, sentenced to\r\nimprisonment, continues. IFEX international organization called the highest\r\nofficials of Kazakhstan to release the journalist.
\r\nOn\r\nNovember 1, members of the IFEX Worldwide Freedom of Expression Network, that\r\nunites more than 100 non-governmental organizations from around the world,\r\ncalled on senior Kazakh officials to release Amangeldy Batyrbekov.
\r\n“As\r\nyou know, many see the criminal prosecution of defamation as a problematic\r\nrestriction on freedom of speech, not necessary to comply with the relevant\r\nrestrictions on defamation,” the statement says.
\r\nAs\r\nIFEX reminded: “The review of the UPR of Kazakhstan will take place next week,\r\nNovember 7, 2019. It is imperative that the government of Kazakhstan remember\r\nthat such an attitude towards dissidents and the prosecution of Batyrbekov will\r\nnot be overlooked and that it is not acceptable, the said prosecution should be stopped and\r\nthe law on criminal liability for defamation should be annulled.”
\r\n- The Supreme Court declared inadmissible consideration in the cassation\r\ninstance the appeal of Seitkazy and Aset Matayev on reversal of aсcusing court rulings and termination\r\nof the proceeding in case .
\r\nOn October 3, 2016, Akbulat\r\nKurmantayev, judge of court No. 2 of the Esil district of Astana, convicted the\r\nchairman of the board of the Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan, Seytkazy\r\nMatayev of committing criminal offenses under Article 245 part 3 (tax evasion);\r\nArt. 190 part 4 section 2 (fraud) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan and sentenced him to six years in prison with confiscation of\r\nproperty and deprivation of the right to occupy senior managerial positions and\r\nperform financially accountable functions in state and commercial organizations\r\nfor ten years, with serving a sentence in standard regime penal colony.
\r\nAt the beginning of April 2017, at\r\nthe request of the correction facility, the unserved term of imprisonment was\r\nreduced by half to S. Matayev - by 2 years 8 months.
\r\nOn November 16, 2017, the Kapshagai\r\nCity Court of the Almaty Region granted the motion for the parole of the\r\nchairman of the Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan, Seytkazy Matayev.
\r\nOn December 4, 2018 Seytkazy Matayev\r\nleft the colony in the village Zarechny.
\r\nThe son of S. Matayev - the General\r\nDirector of KazTAG news agency Aset\r\nMatayev was sentenced to 5 years in prison with confiscation of property and\r\nthe deprivation of the right to occupy managerial positions related to\r\norganizational and financially accountable functions in state and commercial\r\norganizations for 10 years, with serving a sentence in standard regime penal colony. Aset Matayev\r\nwas found guilty of a criminal offense under Article 190, part 4, paragraph 2\r\nof the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
\r\nSeytkazy and Aset Matayevs insist on\r\ntheir innocence.
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In early August 2019, the\r\nrepresentative of Seytkazy and Aset Matayevs, lawyer Dzhokhar Utebekov, filed a\r\npetition with the Supreme Court with a request to reverse aсcusing court rulings and terminate\r\nthe proceeding due to the absence of corpus delicti in the actions of the\r\nMatayevs. The lawyer in his petititon stated that (quote from the\r\nnarrative of the Supreme Court ruling):\r\n“the indictment does not disclose either the method or other circumstances of\r\nthe commission of the crimes imputed to the convicted, the content of the\r\nsentence does not meet the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the\r\ncharge is based on shortcomings in the provision of services, the subject of\r\nthe contract has been fulfilled and S.Matayev \r\ncannot be held liable for improper execution, he did not participate in\r\nthe organization of procurements, the court also failed to assess the findings\r\nof experts.” Having studied the case materials, having checked the arguments of\r\nthe petition, the judge of the Supreme Court Umirtay Ibraev concluded that\r\nthere were no grounds for submitting the application for consideration at the\r\nhearing of the cassation instance.
\r\nOn October 31, a judge of the\r\nSupreme Court issued a corresponding ruling.
\r\n“I was upset that the decision of\r\nthe Supreme Court was unmotivated. I studied tens of thousands of pages of the\r\ncase, I was visiting the court in the capital of the country to read it. It\r\ntook me several months to write the cassation petition. I rectified each word\r\nfor many times. But judge Ibraev didn’t answer a single argument! ”, Dzhokhar\r\nUtebekov wrote on Facebook.On November 19, the lawyer filed a new petition\r\naddressed to the chairman of the Supreme Court, Zhakip Asanov.
\r\n-\r\nOn\r\nNovember 15, Ratel.kz resumed its work.
\r\nOn May 28, 2018, Judge of the Medeu District\r\nCourt of Almaty Gulmira Beisenova banned online media outlet analytical Internet portal Ratel.kz, annulled\r\nits certificate of registration and\r\nprohibited “using the domain name Ratel.kz in Kazakhstani segment of the\r\nInternet media for one year with the same or duplicate name \". Besides,\r\nthe editor-in-chief Marat Asipov was forbidden to distribute information under the name Ratel.kz in the media,\r\nInternet resources and on the domain names Ratel.kz, Balborsyk.kz,\r\nWildratel.com, Itau.kz and other domain names.
\r\nA year later, Marat Asipov asked the district\r\ncourt to clarify when the website would be unblocked, when the certificate of\r\nregistration of this media will be restored, and whether it was allowed for him as the chief editor to distribute\r\ninformation on behalf of Ratel.kz in the\r\nmedia.
\r\nOn June 10, 2019, judge of the Medeu District Court of Almaty\r\nGulmira Beisenova rejected the lawsuit of the editor-in-chief. Immediately\r\nafter the court hearing, in response to journalists\' questions, Gulmira\r\nBeisenova clarified: the certificate of registration was withdrawn from Ratel.kz, distribution on\r\ninformation on behalf of it and the affiliated media, the said media outlet no\r\nlonger exists. Asipov, can register a\r\nnew media outlet and work for it if he wants.
\r\nOn August 13, 2019, the appeals board for civil\r\ncases of the Almaty city court cancelled that ruling, and on August 28, the\r\njudge of the Medeu district court of Almaty Yerzhan Chingisov issued the new\r\nruling under the decision of the board of appeals of the city court: the online\r\nmedia outlet RATEL.kz may be published starting from October 23, and Marat\r\nAsipov would still be able to lead it.
\r\nOn November\r\n15, Ratel.kz resumed its work after a year and a half of inaction.
\r\n“We are\r\nfree (the final procedural decisions have not yet been made in the criminal\r\ncase), the Medeu district court of Almaty stated that the deadlines for the\r\nbans have passed, that is, you, dear readers, will be able to read the\r\npublications of the website’s authors again,” the editor-in-chief of the\r\nwebsite Ratel.kz Marat Asipov noted in his\r\naddress to readers.
\r\n“In the\r\nrecent history of Kazakhstan journalism, it is the only case when a media\r\noutlet sent to oblivion can work again ,” Tamara Kaleyeva, the president of the\r\nInternational Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech, commented on\r\nRatel.kz\'s return.
\r\n- The Internet freedom rating of the human rights organization Freedom\r\nHouse classified Kazakhstan as a country with a non-free Internet.
\r\nThe international human rights organization\r\nFreedom House in its annual report “Internet Freedom in the World” ranked\r\nKazakhstan among 33 states (out of 65 analyzed), where the situation with\r\nInternet freedom has worsened over the past year: “The countries that showed a\r\nsignificant decline are Sudan and Kazakhstan. They are followed by Brazil, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. ”Kazakhstan\r\nscored 32 out of 100 possible points in the ranking and was included in the\r\nlist of countries with “not free Internet”.In its updated report, Freedom House\r\nincluded Kazakhstan in the list of countries where “the Internet, social\r\nnetworks and communication platforms are often blocked”, “political, social or\r\nreligious content is limited”, “bloggers, human rights activists, network users\r\nor critical authorities are harassed and held responsibile ”.
\r\n8 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 November\r\n2019. Three of them\r\nwere in favor of the media, journalists and citizens.
\r\nThe following charges were filed in connection with the exercise of the right\r\nto freedom of expression:
\r\n- 5 criminal charges, including 3 in\r\ncourt.
\r\n- 5 claims\r\nand suits in civil procedure. All of them - claims for protection of honor,\r\ndignity and business reputation.
\r\nClaims for compensation for non-pecuniary damage in November 2019 amounted to 2 million tenge.
\r\nThe following charges were filed\r\nsince the beginning of the year:
\r\n- 43 criminal charges.
\r\n- 66\r\nclaims and suits in civil procedure.
\r\nAmong\r\nthem, 59 claims and lawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business\r\nreputation.
\r\n- Claims\r\nfor compensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 100 million tenge. The courts\r\ncollected 9 million 295 thousand tenge.
\r\n- 15 – administrative offence charges.
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The monitoring was done\r\naccording to reports of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s correspondents and\r\ninformation from open sources.
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Head of monitoring\r\nservice of Adil Soz Foundation Elena Tsoi
\r\ne-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz
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For all questions\r\nregarding the monitoring, you may also contact
\r\ninfo@adilsoz.kz
