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 September 2020.
\r\n\r\n
It reports:
\r\n\r\n
- The chief sanitary doctor of\r\nAlmaty accused journalists of violating social distance while covering the\r\nSeptember 13 rally.
\r\nAt a briefing on September 14, Zhandarbek Bekshin, the chief sanitary\r\ndoctor of Almaty, accused journalists of\r\nviolating social distance while covering \r\nthe September 13 rally: “Marking was made for so many people. At first,\r\npeople stood on the marks, but at the end they, including the journalists,\r\nrushed to take interview, you saw them, they were in yellow vests, in lilac\r\nones, in such greenish vests. \"
\r\nAcoording to KazTAG reports, he also accused journalists that they\r\nwant the Sanitary and Epidemiological\r\nService to wring hands of the rally participants.
\r\n\r\n
- Reporter of RFE / RL Khadisha\r\nAkayeva was rudely detained by police in Semey. The journalist covered the\r\nprotest actions.
\r\nAzattyk\'s reporter for the East Kazakhstan region Khadisha Akayeva was\r\nbrutally detained by police in Semey on the evening of September 25 while\r\nmaking video of police arrest of blogger Daniyar Adilbekov. The journalist had\r\na journalist\'s card with her and was wearing an identification vest with the\r\nword “Press” on it. Her mobile phone she used to make video, was taken away\r\nfrom her during detention.
\r\n“When they dragged me to the police wagon, they injured my finger,\r\nbroke my nails and ripped out some hair,” Akayeva said.
\r\nThe reporter was detained by the police for about half an hour, forced\r\nto sign an explanatory note, then released, claiming that she had been detained\r\n\"by mistake.\"
\r\n\r\n
- The deputy of the Ust-Kamenogorsk\r\ncity maslikhat (local authotiry) accuses the reporter of inbusiness.kz for the\r\nEast Kazakhstan region of slander.
\r\nYulia Mironova, the head of\r\nVostok Avtoprom LLP, demanded to hold responsible the author of the article\r\n“New road signs caused a scandal in\r\nUst-Kamenogorsk” Zhanar Asylkhanova and other persons who wrote posts on social\r\nnetworks, the media, that reposted the message about the new road signs purchased under a public\r\nprocurement tender.
\r\n“When publishing the text, an inaccuracy occurred that was immediately\r\ncorrected. The phrase “then two signs were made” was corrected to “then two\r\nsigns were made for every 20 spots”. The applicant confirmed to the police that\r\nthe article had been corrected, but there was no refutation or apology, the\r\narticle was reposted as it was by other media and bloggers, and she believed\r\nthat it negatively affected her, her health and business reputation, ” -\r\ninformed inbusiness.kz. Then she filed a\r\nclaim to the police.
\r\nAccording to the editorial office, Yulia Mironova did not contact the\r\njournalist or the editorial office with a demand to correct the error before\r\nfiling the claim to police. Instead, she posted a video message on Instagram\r\naddressed to the president and first deputy chairman of Nur Otan, in which she\r\nasked to \"stop the flow of negative articles aimed against her\" and\r\nthat \"would not be able to cope with the enormous lie\" wihthout their\r\nsupport.
\r\n\r\n
- The Minister of\r\nHealth, who has not come out to briefings with journalists since August due to\r\nhis busy schedule, met with selected bloggers in Almaty.
\r\n“He answered the questions of selected bloggers in an informal meeting\r\nin Almaty. Who selected those bloggers - it is a question to the minister\r\nhimself and his pr-strategists. The day before one of the members of the\r\nminister\'s pr-team assured journalists \r\nthat the minister has always been open to media, but he does not have a\r\nfree minute, so he would come out to the press conference on Septermber 30,\r\n\"plus or minus a day.\" He did not came to press since August 3. I do\r\nnot count the press conferences held by Deputy Prime Minister and a couple of\r\nother ministers where they tried to mure up our mouth and limited the questions related to covid, statistics, and the\r\nupcoming new wave ”(Facebook, Irina Sevostyanova).
\r\n\r\n
- The court of appeal upheld the verdict passed upon civil activist\r\nAlnur Ilyashev.
\r\nOn June 22, Z. Makharadze, the presiding judge of the District Court No.\r\n2 of the Medeu District of Almaty, sentenced civil activist Alnur Ilyashev to\r\nthree years of restriction of liberty and \r\nto forced labor for 100 hours a year.
\r\nA court also put the civil activist under probationary control for the entire period of punishment.
\r\nThe court also deprived Alnur\r\nIlyashev of the right to engage in \r\npublic activities and \"voluntarily serving the political, cultural,\r\nprofessional needs of society\", to create and take part in the activities\r\nof political parties, public associations and foundations for a period of five\r\nyears.
\r\nOn\r\nSeptember 15, Almaty City Appeal Court\r\ndismissed the complaint of Alnur Ilyashev.
\r\n“The\r\ncourt came to the conclusion that your actions, nevertheless, in your actions\r\nset of elements of an offense you are accused of and your guilt the case files and the presented evidence prove your guilt.\r\nGiven the situation with the coronavirus at that time and the fact that people were literally in a panic, your posts\r\nsurely had a negative affect. Therefore, we have come to the conclusion that\r\nyou are guilty. We also took into account your position that you want to\r\ncontinue to fight ... Still we will not be offended if you file a complaint to the Supreme Court\r\nand international organizations. We will see what will come of it, ”the\r\nVlast.kz website quotes Judge Bektemirova.
\r\n\r\n
5 judicial acts\r\nwere issued against media and citizens in connection with the exercise of the\r\nright to freedom of expression , the receipt and dissemination of information\r\non cases of protection of honor, dignity and business reputation in September\r\n2020. Two of them were in favor of the\r\nmedia, journalists and citizens.
\r\n\r\n
The following\r\ncharges were filed in connection with\r\nthe exercise of the right to freedom of expression:
\r\n- 4 criminal charges, no\r\none in court.
\r\n- 2 claims and\r\nsuits in civil procedure. One of them\r\nwas a claim for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation.
\r\n- 5\r\nadministrative charges
\r\n\r\n
The\r\nfollowing charges were filed since the beginning of the year:
\r\n- 44 criminal charges (including 12 in court).
\r\n- 25 administrative\r\ncharges
\r\n- 51 claims and suits in civil procedure.
\r\nAmong them, 42 claims and lawsuits for protection of honor,\r\ndignity and business reputation.
\r\n- Claims for\r\ncompensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 78 million 100 thousand tenge. The courts collected 935 thousand 993 tenge.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
The monitoring was done according\r\nto reports of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s correspondents and information\r\nfrom open sources.
\r\n\r\n
Head of monitoring service of Adil\r\nSoz Foundation Elena Tsoi
\r\ne-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz
\r\n
For all\r\nmonitoring questions, you can also contact info@adilsoz.kz\r\n
