Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan June 2020

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 June 2020.

It reports:

- On June 26, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed the\r\nbill into law to  transfer article\r\n\"Slander\" from the Criminal Code to the Administrative Code.

The law excludes Article 130 -\r\n\"Slander\" from the Criminal Code. Slander is transferred to the Code\r\nof the Republic of Kazakhstan \"On Administrative Offenses\" as a new\r\narticle \"73-3. Slander\". The bill stipulates a fine from 180 MCI to\r\n650 MCI or administrative arrest for a period of 20 to 25 days for libel\r\ncommitted in public or with the use of media or telecommunications networks.\r\nSlander accusing a person of committing a corruption, grave or especially grave\r\ncrime shall be punishable by a fine from 200 to 750 MCI or administrative\r\narrest from 25 to 30 days. The law also amends Article 174 of the Criminal Code\r\nof the Republic of Kazakhstan - Incitement of social, national, clan, racial, class\r\nor religious discord.In the title of Art. 174 the word “Incitement” is replaced\r\nby the word “Agitation”. Offence under 174 of the Criminal Code of the Republic\r\nof Kazakhstan is additionally punished by a fine in the amount of  2,000 MCI to 7,000 MCI or restriction of\r\nfreedom or imprisonment (the current Criminal Code stipulates only restriction\r\nof freedom for a period of 2 to 7 years or imprisonment for the same period and\r\nno additional fine).The law was published by state media on June 29, 2020 and is\r\nput into effect  10 days after the date\r\nof its publication.

- The court deprived Alnur Ilyashev of the right to engage in civic and\r\npublic activities for a period of five years. Alnur considers the sentence to\r\nbe a legal way to force him to silence.

On June 22, the district court No. 2\r\nof the Medeu district of Almaty, presided \r\nby Judge Z. Makharadze, sentenced civil activist Alnur Ilyashev to three\r\nyears of restriction of freedom and  100\r\nhours  of compulsory work a year .

The civic activist was found guilty\r\nof disseminating deliberately false information during a state of emergency (Article 274, Part 4, Clause 2 of the\r\nCriminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).Prosecutor Dastan Myrzagali\r\ndemanded  three years of imprisonment for\r\nIlyashev and a five years ban for public and political activities.

The prosecution believes that\r\nIlyashev\'s social network posts \r\ndated  March 26, 28, 31, 2020\r\n\"are aimed at forming an opinion about the insolvency of the activities of\r\npublic associations and public authorities, which could lead to negative\r\nconsequences in this period ...\"

Alnur Ilyashev  did not fully plead guilty. Ilyashev believes\r\nthat he  exercised his right to freedom\r\nof expression, and believes that his posts were aimed at criticizing the dominant\r\npolitical authorities of the country responsible for the current socio-economic\r\nand socio-political situation.

Ilyashev was put under probation\r\nsupervision for the entire period of punishment. As an additional punishment\r\nthe court  deprived  Alnur Ilyashev of the right to engage in\r\ncivic and public activities in the form of \"to voluntarily serve the\r\npolitical, cultural, professional needs of society\", engaging in the\r\nactivities of political parties, public associations, foundations for  five years.

- The action\r\ngroup for the Democratic Party led by activist Zhanbolat Mamai and the\r\nDemocratic Choice of Kazakhstan movement called on their supporters to rallies\r\nin several cities of Kazakhstan on June 6. The agenda included demands of a\r\ncredit amnesty, release of political prisoners, and ban to sell  land to foreigners. On June 6, journalists\r\ncovering the detention of citizens faced impediments in their work.

- Radio Azattyk reporter Dilara Isa (Shymkent): two\r\nunknown persons tried to prevent us making video of arrests. They used\r\numbrellas to cover the cameras. One of them said that he was an employee of the\r\ninternal policy department of the Shymkent akimat (mayor\'s office). Besides\r\ncity police department spokesperson was making a video of the reporter\'s work.

- The policeman Interfering with legal professional\r\nactivity  of Nasha Gazeta journalist Olga\r\nSidorova (Kostanay) when she tried to make a video of the arrests on the square\r\nin Kostanay. The correspondent had a distinctive sign - a yellow vest with the\r\nwords \"Press\" on it. The policeman covered the scene with his back,\r\nthen tried to take away the journalist\'s mobile phone, that she used to make a\r\nvideo. Only after the journalist showed him her media ID the policeman stop\r\ninterfering with the work of the journalist.

- In Semey policemen tried to detain Azattyk reporter\r\nKhadish Akaeva  more than once.

- The editor-in-chief of Uralskaya Nedelya newspaper,\r\nLukpan Akhmedyarov, said that on June 6, the day of peaceful rallies, police\r\ntried to take him to the police station on a summons.

-\r\nInformation-analytical portal Azattyq Ruhy group was attacked.

On June 9 the journalists stopped near a  carwash to find out about the events that\r\nhappened the previous night in one of the houses nearby (a 69-year-old Almaty\r\nresident shot his son-in-law and his daughter, and then committed suicide). A\r\ngroup of people approached them.

“They behaved aggressively but didn’t even demand us\r\nto leave. When the situation became more tensed I warned them  I would call the police. At that moment one\r\nof the women snatched my mobile phone from my hands and threw it on the pavement\r\nwith all her might. She attacked the cameraman too, intending to snatch his\r\ncamera from him, ”says Rishat.

The journalists called the police and reported the\r\nattack.The police drew up an administrative protocol against the woman that\r\nbroke the journalist\'s phone.

On June 19, the Specialized Interdistrict\r\nAdministrative Court of Almaty found her guilty of petty hooliganism (Article\r\n434, Part 1) and fined her for 13,890 tenge.

Rishat Askarbekuly, who participated in the trial\r\nonline, asked to take light measures against the offender and to stop the\r\nproceedings for the reconciliation of the parties, since she fully compensated\r\nthe material damage she caused.

- Proceedings on 2018 libel charges \r\nlawsuit against Gulzhan Yergalieva were resumed.

On June 1, journalist Gulzhan\r\nYergalieva wrote on Facebook: “After my sharp posts about the police and other\r\npersons, the proceedings  on charges\r\nunder  articles 130 and 131 of the Penal\r\nCode were resumed in Astana.

Private prosecutor Askhat Orazayev\r\nappealed to court No. 2 of the Saryarka district of Astana city demanding to\r\nbring Yergalieva to criminal liability for libel (Article 130, part 2 of the\r\nCriminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan). The proceedings  began on April 17, 2018.

The grounds to initiate\r\nproceedings  was the comment posted by\r\nGulzhan Yergalieva on the personal social network page of Seidakhmet\r\nKuttykadam  under the post “NEPRODUMANNOE\r\nNAMERENIE”, where he opposed the hasty introduction of the Latin alphabet for\r\nthe Kazakh language.“

It caused hot discussion. When I\r\nread the comments, I noticed that a discussion arose between him and a certain\r\nOrazaev, who engaged in ad hominem attacks. I stood up for Kuttykadam, calling\r\nOrazaev \"stupid\". I said \"If you are so stupid that you cannot\r\nunderstand the meaning of the article, then maybe you shouldn\'t enter the\r\ndiscussion\". And after a while I learned that Orazayev had sued me for\r\nlibel, ”Yergalieva told the KazTAG news agency.

- The Ministry of Information and Social Development put forward for\r\ndiscussion the Rules of  journalists\r\n(representatives of the media) attending peaceful assemblies and the forms of\r\nthe journalist\'s distinctive signs.

The rules require that a journalist\r\nshould have a journalist\'s ID and one or more approved distinctive signs, while\r\ncovering a peaceful assembly. The distinctive signs are described in Appendix 2\r\nto the Order of the Minister. In accordance with  paragraph 4 of the Rules, the executive body\r\n“to ensure the professional activities of a journalist (interviewing,\r\nbriefings), the local executive body takes measures to provide journalists with\r\nan Operational Press Center for the media in the following cases:1) if the\r\nestimated number of participants in a peaceful assembly, declared in the\r\nnotification on holding peaceful assemblies or in the application for approval,\r\nexceeds 200 people;2) at the request of the media to the local executive body.

The media request should be\r\nsubmitted no later than one working day before the day of the peaceful\r\nassembly, following no particular form, but \r\nindicating the number of journalists. \"An operational press center\r\nshould be roped off by  tape and should\r\nensure sufficient visibility for photographing, filming and receiving\r\ninterviews, and provided with electricity. At the same time, the journalist has\r\nthe right to collect information at peaceful meetings both on the territory of\r\nthe operational press center and outside it.

- Due to the pandemic, the Kazakh mass media are facing great economic\r\ndifficulties.

The forecast for the loss of\r\nadvertising revenue this year is calculated on average from 30% to 60%,\r\ntold  Minister of Information and Public\r\nDevelopment Aida Balayeva. According to her, the predicted losses  of 60 television and radio channels are equal\r\nto T810.855 million, which is 55.6% of revenues for 2020,  predicted losses of 50 print media is equal -\r\nKZT1.551m, which is 32.01% of revenues for 2020. The losses caused by the state\r\nof emergency and  currency devaluation.

2  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 2020. None of them was in favor of the\r\ndefendants.

 The\r\nfollowing charges were filed  in\r\nconnection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression in June:

- 7 criminal charges, including 2 \r\nin court.

- 9 claims\r\nand suits in civil procedure. 8 of them were claims for protection of honor,\r\ndignity and business reputation.

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

- 36 criminal charges including 12 in court

- 17 administrative charges.

- 45\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 70 million 600 thousand  tenge. The courts collected 755 thousand  993  tenge.

The monitoring was done according\r\nto reports of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s correspondents  and information\r\nfrom open sources.

Head of monitoring service of Adil\r\nSoz Foundation Elena Tsoi
\r\ne-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz

For all questions regarding\r\nthe  monitoring, you may also contact
\r\ninfo@adilsoz.kz