Violations of freedom of speech in Kazakhstan. February 2020

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 February\r\n2020.

Itreports:

-\r\nOn February 22, protest actions took place in the country, police detained not\r\nonly of the protesters, but  journalists\r\nas well.

On February\r\n22, protests took place in major cities of Kazakhstan, that went along with\r\nmassive detentions of the protesters and those who happened to be nearby.\r\nAccording to Azattyk, on that day  more\r\nthan a hundred people were detained in Kazakhstan in places designated for\r\nrallies. According to human rights activists, about 300 people were detained in\r\nthe country. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported the detention of 53\r\npeople.

On February\r\n22, in Uralsk, police detained Akmaral Fedorova, a correspondent for the\r\nnewspaper Uralskaya Nedelya. Her colleagues said that she was crosing over the\r\nsquare to get to the printing house. At that same time Tlegen Tureshev was on\r\npicket duty on the square, protesting against the renaming of Nazarbayev Avenue\r\nand demanding the return the previous name to the street. The journalist began\r\nto  make photos of the picket just  when the police approached him.

After brief\r\nnegotiations, police rounded  Tlegen\r\nTureshev up and dragged him to the police car.

Akmaral\r\nFedorova asked why Tureshev was detained, citing the fact that solo pickets\r\nwere allowed by President Tokayev. After she asked the question,  the police rounded her up as well despite the\r\nfact that the journalist introduced herself and informed the police that she\r\nwas performing her professional activities.

Another\r\njournalist of the Ural Week, Alexei Vorobyov, was detained near the CityCenter\r\nshopping center. Alexei Vorobyov was detained near the City Center mall. In\r\nprevious days  information was\r\ndisiminated in social media that supporters of the Democratic Choice o\r\nKazakhstan party that is banned in the Republic of Kazakhstan intended to hold\r\nan unauthorized rally there.

Alexey\r\nVorobyev went there to perform the task of the editorial office and to cover\r\nthe situation. Later it became known that Vorobyov was taken to the Abay police\r\ndepartment, and Akmaral Fedorova was also brought there earlier. Journalists\r\nwere registered as being brought in for questioning in the framework of a\r\ncriminal case on dissemination of information of extremist content through\r\nsocial networks.They spent almost 4 hours at the police station.

Aslan Sagugdinov, a civil activist and blogger from\r\nUralsk, was detained near the site of an alleged unauthorized rally in Uralsk.\r\nDuring the arrest, the police ripped off the jacket of the blogger, and one of\r\nthe policemen split his lips with a blow to his head. After Sagutdinov felt\r\nunwell at the police station (he has an aneurysm), he was taken to a hospital\r\nby ambulance.

Journalist Indira Kakimova, who represents Vityaz\r\nAgency for Journalistic Investigations, a freelancer on Channel 31, was\r\ndetained by police on February 22 right at the entrance of her own home.\r\nPolicemen snached her telephone from her hands and delivered the journalist to\r\nthe police station. There, the journalist was asked about her activities in\r\nsocial networks, and about her opinion on the duties of police officers.  Indira Kakimova spent more than six hours at\r\nthe police station.

On February 22 near Astana Square in Almaty, the\r\npolice tried to detain Inga Imanbai - a journalist, the wife of the founder of\r\nthe Democratic Party of Kazakhstan. The police grabbed Imanbai, put her in a\r\npassenger car and tried to take her away. Later \r\nInga was  released. According to\r\nthe police, they were  instructed to\r\nbring the journalist home, but she refused to go with them, insisting that\r\nsince she was a free citizen, she was able to get home on her own.

- Inga Imanbai announced her\r\nresignation from the post of chief editor of the newspaper \"Zhas\r\nAlash.\" According to the journalist, the reason for the dismissal, , was a\r\n\"severe steamroll\" by the authorities over the family of Altynbek\r\nSarsenbaev.

“As you know, just a month and a half ago, I was appointed chief editor\r\nof the oldest Kazakh-language newspaper“ Zhas Alash ”.We drastically changed\r\nthe editorial policy and began to publish acute articles about the Nazarbayev\r\nand his family. Thatfact and the fact that I am the wife of Zhanbolat Mamay\r\ncaused the severe attack of the authorities on the family of Altynbek\r\nSarsenbayuly (widow of A. Sarsenbayuly Saltanat Atusheva owns the newspaper ),\r\n”Inga Imanbai wrote on Facebook on February 24.

According to Imanbai, on February 20, Saltanat Atusheva told her that\r\n“a criminal investigation was initiated against a close relative of the\r\nSarsenbayev family and there was a threat of arrest  if they did not fulfill authorities\'\r\ndemand  to dismiss Inga Imanbai from the\r\npost of editor-in-chief. The reason was that she is the wife of Zhanbolat Mamay\r\n(head of the initiative group for the creation of the Democratic Party of\r\nKazakhstan). The arguments that Mamay was not related to the newspaper were\r\nrejected. According to Inga, the generals of \"one department\"\r\ninsisted on her dismissal  before\r\nFebruary 22.

- Popular instant messengers and\r\nsocial networks were blocked again in Kazakhstan. Problems with access to Telegram, WhatsApp messengers, social networks\r\nInstagram, Twitch, YouTube video hosting and other Google services took place\r\non February 8 (during the days of events in the Kordai region), on February 13,\r\n15-16 (after another social networks post of the grandson of the first\r\npresident), February 22 (day of protest rallies).

- Blogger is on trial for defamation\r\nof a lawyer in Shymkent

The Enbekshikazakh District Court of Shymkent accepted a individual\r\nappeal of the acting Head of the Department of Justice of the city of Shymkent\r\nN. A.Makhambetov  under Art. 130 part 2\r\nof the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (slander distributed in the\r\nmedia) against Anar Suleyeva, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Temirkazayk-Oi,\r\nregarding her posts on Facebook

The merits of the case are the following:

On December 21, 2019, unknown persons posted a story about the use of\r\nofficial vehicles by Makhambetov in off-hours on the YouTube video hosting\r\nsite. According to the results of the examination conducted at the Center for\r\nForensic Expertise in Shymkent by V.L.Larshina , the video was assembled from\r\nfragments, sometimes with captions and special effects, fragments were recorded\r\nwith the use of different  devices at\r\ndifferent time.

On December 27, 30, 2019 and January 7, 2020 Anar Suleeva posted\r\nseveral appeals on  Facebook  based on those videos addressed to the Agency\r\nfor Civil Service Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to the President of\r\nthe Republic of Kazakhstan K. Tokaev, and the General Prosecutor of the\r\nRepublic of Kazakhstan G. Nurdauletov. She drew attention to the employee\r\nturnover of the heads of the local department of justice and the use of official\r\ncar for personal need during off-hours by the acting head of the Department of\r\nJustice of the city of Shymkent Makhambetov N.A. and asked to give a proper\r\nassessment to the situation.

The applicant asked to institute criminal proceedings and bring Anarkul\r\nSuleeva to responsibility   under Article\r\n130 of Part 2; to request information from Shymkent Police Department on\r\nmethods of receiving information on assigning the duties of the head of the\r\nDepartment of Justice of the city of Shymkent and photos depicting N.\r\nMakhambetov by Facebook user Anara Suleeva.

- ZIKSTO JSC (Petropavlovsk) wants\r\nto recover 57 billion 400 thousand tenge from Liter.kz.ZIKSTO JSC, engaged in\r\nthe manufacture and delivery of products and spare parts for railways, appealed\r\nto the chief editor of  online media\r\nLiter.kz with a pre-trial claim.

The reason for it was the article by Zaure Zhumalieva “20 billion\r\npension money“ was lost ”at the car factory in Petropavlovsk”, published on the\r\nwebsite on November 27, 2019.The joint-stock company demands to publish a\r\nrefutation of the information that as it believes discredit the honor, dignity\r\nand business reputation of the joint-stock company and its former head S.\r\nNepomnyashchy The disputed information is related to embezzlement and misappropriation\r\nof funds, abuse of trust of shareholders, unfair performance of contracts, etc.\r\nBesides, ZIKSTO demands  compensation for\r\n“the material and moral damage in the amount of 57 billion 400 thousand tenge.\r\nIn case of refusal to comply with the requirements, the JSC declared its\r\nintention to appeal to the court and to the police to initiate criminal\r\nproceedings under art. 130 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan\r\n(“Slander”).

8  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 February\r\n2020. Six of them were\r\nin favor of the media, journalists and citizens.

The following charges were\r\nfiled  in connection with the exercise of\r\nthe right to freedom of expression:

- 7 criminal charges, including\r\n4  in court.

- 9 claims\r\nand suits in civil procedure. Eight of them were claims for protection of\r\nhonor, dignity and business reputation.

Claims for compensation for non-pecuniary damage in February 2019 amounted to 3 mln 500 thousand tenge.

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

- 10 criminal charges.

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

Among\r\nthem, 14 claims and lawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business\r\nreputation.

- Claims\r\nfor compensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 26 million 500\r\nthousand  and 3  tenge. The courts collected 330 thousand  993  tenge.

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