The International Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech\r\n\"Adil Soz\" conducted a study of the situation with the right to\r\nfreedom of expression, receipt and dissemination of information in Kazakhstan\r\nin May 2020.
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It reports:
\r\n- On May\r\n6, the Mazhilis (the lower chamber of the Parliament) approved in the second reading\r\nthe bill on the transfer of Article “slander” from the Criminal Code to the Administrative\r\nCode.
\r\nДепутаты Мажилиса парламента одобрили во втором чтении\r\nпроект закона РК «О внесении изменений и дополнений в некоторые законодательные\r\nакты РК по вопросам исполнительного производства и уголовного\r\nзаконодательства».
\r\nThe\r\ndeputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament approved in the second reading the\r\ndraft law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Amendments and Additions to Some\r\nLegislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Enforcement Proceedings and\r\nCriminal Legislation”.
\r\nThe bill\r\nexcludes article 130 - “Slander” from the Criminal Code. Slander charge is\r\ntransferred to the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Administrative\r\nOffenses”.
\r\nTo do that\r\nChapter 10 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Kazakhstan\r\n- Administrative offenses encroaching on the rights of an individual - is\r\nsupplemented by article \"73-3. Slander\".
\r\nIt is\r\nproposed to introduce the following types of punishment for disseminating\r\nknowingly false information discrediting the honor and dignity of another\r\nperson or undermining his\\her reputation:
\r\n- a fine in\r\nthe amount of 160 Monthly calculated index (MCI) or administrative arrest for a\r\nperiod of 15 days for individuals; a fine \r\nin the amount of 550 MCI or administrative arrest for a period of 20\r\ndays for an official.
\r\nFor slander\r\ncommitted publicly or using the media or telecommunications networks, the bill\r\nproposes:
\r\n- a\r\nfine in the amount of 180 MCI or\r\nadministrative arrest for a period of 20 days for an individual;
\r\n- a\r\nfine in the amount of 650 MCI or an\r\nadministrative arrest for a period of 25 days for an official.
\r\nThe actions\r\nstated in the first and second parts, \r\nexpressed in accusation of corruption, or committing grave or especially\r\ngrave crime are punishable by a fine in\r\nthe amount of 200 MCI or an arrest for 25 days for an individual, a fine in the\r\namount of 750 MCI or an administrative arrest for a period of 30 days for an\r\nofficial .
\r\nThe draft\r\nlaw “On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan on Improving Enforcement Proceedings and Criminal Legislation”\r\namended Article 174 of the Criminal Code\r\nof the Republic of Kazakhstan - Incitement to social, national, tribal, racial,\r\nclass or religious hatred.In the title of Art. 174 the word “Stir up” is\r\nreplaced by the word “Incitement”.
\r\nThe offense\r\nunder 174 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan is additionally\r\npunished by penalty in the amount of 2000 MCI to 7000 MCI or\r\nrestriction or imprisonment (the current criminal code provides restriction of\r\nfreedom for a period of 2 to 7 years or imprisonment for the same term).
\r\nThe draft\r\nlaw amends 9 codes and 8 laws.
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- On May 25, the\r\nPresident of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed the Law “On the procedure for\r\norganizing and conducting peaceful meetings in the Republic of Kazakhstan”.
\r\n- The court banned the\r\nactivities of Koshe Partiasy (Koshe Party) throughout Kazakhstan. The court\r\nfound that this party is the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK)\r\nmovement acting under a new name.
\r\nOn May 19,\r\nthe Yesil District Court of Nur-Sultan upheld the claim of the Prosecutor\r\nGeneral\'s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan to recognize that the name of\r\nthe DVK movement was changed to the Koshe partiasy movement.“The court found\r\nthat“ DVK ”changed its name to Koshe partiasy ”and it is the same extremist\r\norganization,” the Prosecutor General’s press release said.The court banned the\r\nactivities of “DVK” throughout the Republic of Kazakhstan under the new name\r\n“Koshe partiasy”, including using of this name in media, telecommunications\r\nnetworks, social networks, instant messengers and video hosting services, and distributing \r\ninformation materials.
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- A journalist from\r\nAktau was reprimanded for publishing a comic picture in her personal social\r\nnetwork account.
\r\nAfter\r\njournalist Olga Zolotykh posted the comic picture “Aktau inhabitants are afraid\r\nto call an ambulance because the welders come with doctors” on Instagram on\r\nApril 21, the employer demanded an\r\nexplanatory report from her and handed in a reprimand order.
\r\nThe\r\njournalist was accused of publishing a post in her personal account being a\r\njournalist of “Mangystau-Media”, though she didn’t say a word about her place\r\nof work or her profession. Besides she was blamed for “prompting actions with a\r\nnegative character, in this case, refusal to call an ambulance for illness” by\r\nher post.
\r\nAlso, Olga\r\nZolotikh accused in allegedly mocking at \r\nthe death of a soldier from COVID-19 in Mangistau. The journalist\r\nreplies that “the person died on April 24, and the post was deleted from Instagram on April 22.\r\nNevertheless the head of the media outlet said that she allegedly insulted the feelings of the family\r\nof the deceased by the fact that this post was forwarded in messengers by other\r\npeople. “I don’t know what I have to do with people who wanted to forward that\r\npicture\" she said.
\r\nAlso the\r\nreprimand order called Olga’s post was called “conspiracy theological”.
\r\nThe\r\nreprimand also lists articles of the Labor Code that are the reasons for\r\ndisciplinary punishment for violation of labor discipline. According to\r\nZolotikh it was the only reprimand order in her carrier.
\r\n\"The\r\nmanagement of MM (Mangystau-Media)\r\nbelieve it s a kind of vice police or the chief censor and forgets that there\r\nis the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, that guarantees anyone the right to expression and freedom of\r\nword (of course, if such word does not\r\ncall for the overthrow of the political system and others scary things). First\r\nof all, I am a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and only after that I am\r\na journalist of any media outlet\"- the journalist wrote.
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- A representative of\r\nthe hospital # 12 in Almaty demanded to institute criminal proceedings against\r\na journalist of “Channel 31” for disseminating false information about the\r\nnumber of people infected with COVID-19.
\r\nIrina\r\nSovezhan, a journalist and newsreader at Channel 31, was called by a local policeman\r\non a public holiday on May 1 to give explanations on her Facebook post dated\r\nApril 12, 2020. The policeman explained that on April 13 the representative of\r\nthe 12th hospital, lawyer E. Abdukasimov filed a claim about the dissemination\r\nof false information about the number of persons infected with COVID-19.
\r\nIn her\r\nFacebook post the journalist asked why the hospital #12 was not closed for\r\nquarantine if the number of infected persons in that hospital was growing. The\r\njournalist also asked the medical\r\nauthorities of the city and the country (Minister Yelzhan Birtanov) about the\r\nresettlement of the doctors who contacted the infected persons, whether it was\r\ntrue that they were accommodated by small groups of several persons in the same\r\nroom and if there was a possibility that they could infect one another.\r\nSovezhan’s call to the police caused a heated discussion in the journalistic\r\ncommunity on social networks. In the evening of May 2 Irina Sovezhan received an e-mail from the\r\naddress of the Central City Clinical Hospital apologizing “for the\r\ninconvenience”. The message was not sealed, signed and was not written on an\r\nofficial form of the hospital. The\r\nauthor of the letter continued to accuse the journalist of disseminating false\r\ninformation on the number of persons infected with COVID-19 arguing that the\r\ntests results were available not on April 12 when she made her Facebook post\r\nbut the day after April 13.
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- Criminal charges\r\nagainst Shymkent journalist Zaure\r\nMirzakhodzhaeva were dropped for lack of corpus delicti.
\r\nOn May 30,\r\nthe journalist received the investigator\'s warrant from investigator Kulbaev about dropping the\r\ncriminal charges “against a witness\r\nentitled to defend Mirzakhodzhaeva Z.B., in accordance with Article 274 of the\r\nCriminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan” for the lack of corpus delicti.
\r\nZaure\r\nreported on Facebook that one of the Shymkent government agencies regarded one\r\nof her social network post as dissemination of false information under the\r\nstate of emergency and filed a claim against her asking to institute criminal\r\nproceedings.
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- Criminal charges\r\nagainst human rights activist Aigul Shakibaeva, who told about police brutality\r\nwhile detention of a driver was dropped and \r\nwritten off.
\r\nOn May 12,\r\nAigul Shakibaeva, lawyer of the Commission on the Rights of Persons with\r\nDisabilities named after K. Imanaliev, \r\nreceived an official letter from the head of the Investigation\r\nDepartment of the Police Department (DP) of Almaty, Police Colonel A. Bolatov.\r\nThe letter said criminal charges against her under Part 4 of Clause 2 of the\r\nCriminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (dissemination of knowingly false\r\ninformation during an emergency) were dropped and written off to archival\r\nstorage.
\r\nAs it was\r\nreported, the spokesperson of the Police Department S.Azirbek reported unlawful actions by A. Shakibaeva. On April\r\n8 Shakibaeva witnessed a brutal police\r\ndetention of the driver of the car that was moving behind her, posted the\r\ninformation on Facebook and applied to the police authorities for explanation.
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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 May 2020.Two of them were in favor of the\r\ndefendants.
\r\nThe\r\nfollowing charges were filed in\r\nconnection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression:
\r\n- 6 criminal charges, including 2 in court.3 of them are charges of disseminating\r\nfalse information brought against journalists, bloggers and civic activists.
\r\n- 9 claims\r\nand suits in civil procedure. 7 of them were claims for protection of honor,\r\ndignity and business reputation.
\r\n- 1 charge in violation of the state\r\nof emergency
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The following charges were filed since the beginning of the year:
\r\n- 29 criminal charges including 9 in court
\r\n- 17 administrative charges.
\r\n- 35\r\nclaims and suits in civil procedure.
\r\nAmong\r\nthem, 30 claims and lawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business\r\nreputation.
\r\n- Claims\r\nfor compensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 50 million 850\r\nthousand tenge. The courts collected 755\r\nthousand 993 tenge.
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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
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