Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan October 2020

The International Foundation for the Protection of\r\nFreedom of Speech \"Adil Soz\" conducted a study of the situation with\r\nthe right to freedom of expression, receipt and dissemination of information in\r\nKazakhstan in October 2020.

It reports:

- Journalist Saniya\r\nToiken was attacked by police when she covered an\r\nexhibition and sale of products made by prisoners.

On October 24, 2020, Radio Azattyk reporter Saniya\r\nToiken covered an exhibition and sale of products made by prisoners. The event\r\ntook place at the corner of Mambetov and Kenesary streets near the embankment\r\nin the city of Nur-Sultan. There were \"people out of uniform\" walking\r\naround and several police cars were parked there. They decided that there was a\r\nrally. According to Sania Toiken, mobile phones signals were jammed there.

“A middle-aged man in plain-clothes grabbed my\r\nphone  from me, and stroke me to the\r\nground. No one helped me, I got up and ran after him for my phone, because it\r\nwas the editorial equipment and I was responsible for it. I tried to get my\r\nphone back for a long time. One policeman recognized me and asked to let me go,\r\n\"Saniya Toiken told the Adil Soz reporter.

The journalist was not going to seek medical attention\r\nor report the incident to police. However, one of the activists insisted that\r\nshe see a  doctor.

The  medical center that Saniya Toiken applied to after\r\nthe attack, diagnosed minor injuries of legs and arms and issued a referral for\r\na forensic examination, that she underwent on Monday, October 26.

Saniya Toiken intends to report  the fact of bodily harm, impeding of\r\njournalistic activities, abuse of power and official authority by police\r\nofficers with the use of violence to the Prosecutor\'s office.

- Waterpark \"Dolphin\" that\r\nwithdrew the claim against the EKaraganda news agency in September, applied to\r\ncourt again. Now, there is one more defendant apart from the owner of the media\r\noutlet  - \r\nthe journalistic source.

On October 20, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Karaganda accepted\r\nDolphin water park\'s (Zharyk Saryarka LLP) complaint on protection of business\r\nreputation  against the owner of the\r\nEkaraganda.kz news agency and Ms. Maria Feininger.

The grounds for the claim was the story told by M. Feininger that was\r\npublished on the news agency\'s website. According to Feininger she worked for\r\nDolphin water park  for one month and was\r\nnot paid for work, and the  her demands\r\nto formalize her  employment were\r\nignored. The article said that director of the water park refused to comment.

\"Zharyk Saryarka\" demands to recognize the publlished\r\ninformation as untrue, discrediting business reputation and to oblige the\r\ndefendants to refute it.

- The UN Human Rights Committee have analyzed the 2012\r\ncase on the charge of the journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov in humiliating the\r\nhonor and dignity of an official and came to the conclusion that Kazakhstan\r\nviolated the journalist\'s right to a fair and public hearing of the case by a\r\ncompetent, independent and impartial court and the right to free expression of\r\nhis opinions.

Background: On July 20, 2012, the court No. 2 of Uralsk ruled on the\r\nclaim for the protection of honor, dignity, business reputation and the\r\nrecovery of moral damage in the amount of 10 million tenge filed by the head of\r\nthe internal policy department of the West Kazakhstan regional akimat (mayor\'s\r\noffice) Tlekkabyl Imashev against journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov and the founder\r\nof the newspaper \"Uralskaya Nedelya\" LLP \"Journalistic\r\nInitiative\".

The defendants have to  pay\r\nImashev 5 million tenge and offer him a public apology.

As it was reported, that the grounds for the lawsuit was the article\r\n“Brother, co-father-in-law and profitable connections”, published by the\r\nnewspaper on Ferbuary 2, 2012. It told about family ties of the local\r\nauthorities. The plaintiff was outraged by the words: “Marriages are made in\r\nheaven, but their benefits are quite earthly. This is confirmed by the career\r\ngrowth of Tlekkabyl Imashev, formerly a physical education teacher, and now the\r\nhead of the regional department of internal policy of the Western Kazakhstan\r\nregion. In addition to his personal qualities, the main ideologist of the\r\nregion also has family relations  with\r\nImangali Tasmagambetov, the former prime minister of the country. \"

Tlekkabyl Imashev did not deny his family ties, but considered that the\r\ninformation the newspaper published diminished his personal achievments. The\r\nofficial was also humiliated by the use of his image in the illustration for\r\nthe material: \"The use of my image in a deck of playing cards offends me\r\nnot only as a civil servant, but also as a citizen of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan, because by doing so you had the goal of defaming my reputation as\r\nan honest civil servant and a decent citizen\" ...

The UN Human Rights Committee have analyzed the judicial acts and came\r\nto the conclusion that Kazakhstan violated the right of a journalist to a fair\r\nand public hearing of the case by a competent, independent and impartial court\r\nand the right to free expression of his opinion.

“The importance  the\r\nInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights places on  free expression is particularly high in the\r\ncontext of public debates related to  politicians and government agencies. Thus, the\r\nvery fact that forms of expression are viewed as offensive to a public figure\r\nis not enough to justify the imposition of a penalty, ”the authors of the\r\ndocument note.

The Committee\'s decision is advisory in nature.

- Kazakhstan ranked as a  country with a “non-free Internet”In the\r\nFreedom House report on Internet freedom.

The international human rights organization Freedom House has published\r\nits annual report on Internet freedom - Freedom on the Net-2020.

Internet freedom has been monitored in 65 countries and evaluated\r\nunder  the following criteria: barriers\r\nto the use of Internet; content limitation; violation of user rights. Data were\r\nanalyzed from June 2019 to May 2020.

Kazakhstan got  32 out of 100\r\npoints in the rating (75-100 points are given to countries with a “free\r\nInternet”) and was recognized as a “country with a non-free Internet”.

Freedom House described Kazakhstan as a country \"with frequently\r\nblocked internet, social networks and communication platforms\",\r\n\"limited political, social and religious content\" and where\r\n\"bloggers, human rights defenders, netizens and government critics are\r\nfrequently prosecuted, prosecuted, attacked.\" ...

Other countries with a non-free Internet are China, Iran, Syria,\r\nVietnam, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, UAE,\r\nEthiopia, Bahrain, Sudan, Russia, Turkey, Thailand, Belarus, Azerbaijan and\r\nRwanda.

6 \r\njudicial acts were issued against media and citizens in connection with\r\nthe exercise of the right to freedom of expression , the receipt and\r\ndissemination of information on cases of protection of honor, dignity and\r\nbusiness reputation in October 2020. Four of them were in favor of defendants.

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

- 4 criminal charges,  one of then  in  court.

- 6 claims and\r\nsuits in civil procedure. Five of them were claims for protection of honor,\r\ndignity and business reputation.

- 1\r\nadministrative charge

The\r\nfollowing charges were filed since the beginning of the year:

- 48  criminal charges (including 13 in court).

- 27 administrative\r\ncharges

- 58  claims and suits in civil procedure.

Among them, 50\r\nclaims and lawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation.

- Claims for\r\ncompensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 79 million 100 thousand  tenge. The courts collected 975 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 monitoring questions, you\r\ncan also contact info@adilsoz.kz