Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan November 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 November 2020.

Itreports:

- The deputy of the maslikhat of the\r\nWest Kazakhstan region accused Vremya newspaper regional reporter of slander.

Zlata\r\nUdovichenko,  Vremya newspaper reporter\r\nfor West Kazakhstan region, was summoned to police station. As it became clear\r\nfrom the conversation with the district police officer, a deputy of local\r\nmaslikhat (local authority) Lyana Tursynova filed a claim  against the reporter. Tursynova claims that\r\nUdovichenko in her articles made statements \r\ndiscrediting her honor and dignity, as well as her business and party\r\nreputation, and demanded that those statements were recognized as “Slander”\r\n(the journalist was not allowed to take a photo of the claim and was told to\r\nget  a copy at the registry ).

The claim\r\nmentions three articles - “Unhealthy appetite. Uralsk local deputy  is accused of seizing school canteens ”(\r\nSeptember 16, 2020),“ The debtor turnes out to be a dog-poor ”(October 2, 2020)\r\nand“ All clear! ” (October 09, 2020).

- The student that\r\napplied to the EKaraganda newspaper for help, \r\nretracted her words in court and accused the journalists of publishing\r\nunverified information.

There was an unexpected\r\nturn on November 11 at the court hearings  \r\nin the Oktyabrsky District Court of Karaganda on the suit of Zharyk\r\nSaryarka LLP against the owner of the ekaraganda news agency, Creadom LLP.

As it was reported, article\r\n“Waterpark refuses to pay salary to  Karaganda\r\ninhabitant” published on the ekaraganda website was  the subject of a court dispute in September.\r\nThen the case was considered by the Specialized Interdistrict Economic Court of\r\nthe Karaganda region. The plaintiff - the owner of the Dolphin water park,\r\nZharyk Saryarka LLP - demanded a refutation, but could not  provide any evidence that the published\r\narticle somehow influenced  its business\r\nreputation. And Maria Feninger, the student that the article told about ,and\r\nother  witnesses confirmed that they\r\nworked for the water park, they did not enter into any employment contracts or\r\ncivil contracts and were not paid for the work. After that the plaintiffs\r\nwithdrew the claim.

“Adil soz” then commented:\r\n“Unfortunately, amendments adopted to Civil Procedure Code in 2015, resulted in\r\nsatisfying such requests. Cases are dismissed regardless of the  defendants opinion -  the court has no choice. It is a good\r\nloophole for unscrupulous plaintiffs: to file a groundless lawsuit, use court\r\nhearings to find out the arguments and the evidences of the defendant, to file\r\na request to dismiss the case, to prepare for the court proceedings taking into\r\naccount the information received at the hearings, and file the lawsuit\r\nagian.\" (see http://www.adilsoz.kz/news/show/id/3200)

Adil Soz must have second sight!\r\n“Zharyk Saryarka”  filed the same suit\r\nagain, but against  “Creadom” LLP and\r\nMaria Feninger, the same student who asked the media outlet to help her get her\r\nwages from the owner of the Dolphin water park.

At the hearings in econimic court in\r\nSeptember Maria was emotional and convincing telling how bad she was treated at\r\nthe Dolphin. She testified  in court as a\r\nwitness and was warned of criminal liability for perjury.

But at the hearings in the district\r\ncourt on November 11, she declared that she had never worked  in the water park and since the journalists\r\ndid not check her words they had to publish a         refutation! She also asked to considered\r\nthe case in her absence. However, the presiding judge Z. Mombayeva said that\r\nthe court had questions for Maria and she would be definitely  questioned in court.

Let\'s not try to guess why M.\r\nFeninger so dramatically changed her position, maybe she has got the money her\r\nex- employer owed her. In any case, journalists were not happy at all with such\r\nturn in the case. They double checked the information and had  sufficient evidence that the information they\r\npublished was accurate.

 The next court hearing is scheduled for\r\nNovember 16, 2020 at 12.15 pm. The interests of Creadom LLP. Adil Soz lawyer\r\nT.Simakhina represents  the owner of the\r\nekaraganda news agency before the court. The hearings are held online.

- «Today we are\r\ndealing with the worst manifestation of legal nihilism - nihilism of a number\r\nof state authorities in Kazakhstan.» Adil Soz Foundation has analyzed the\r\nsituation with the freedom of speech under the state of emergency and\r\nquarantine.

«Today we are dealing with the worst manifestation of legal nihilism -\r\nnihilism of a number of state authorities in Kazakhstan.».

«The current\r\nquarantine, including restrictions on the rights and freedoms of citizens, does\r\nnot  always fit the legal framework. The\r\nstate of emergency was lifted, and sanitary doctors are not empowered to\r\nrestrict the rights of citizens  the way\r\nthat happens in Kazakhstan».

«The authorities used arbitrary and disproportionately\r\naggressive restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic to harass journalists,\r\nhealth workers and activists that tried to get and distribute the real picture\r\nfrom medical organizations.».

These are just a few quotes from the analytical report\r\n\"Kazakhstan 2020: freedom of speech under the state of emergency and\r\nquarantine.\" It was made within the framework of a project supported by\r\nthe Soros Foundation Kazakhstan on the basis of two analytical studies, and a\r\nsix-month monitoring of violations of freedom of speech during this period. The\r\nfull text is available at http://www.adilsoz.kz/p/zakon

- The moderators of the online\r\npress-conference with the  Minister of\r\nEcology, which took place as part of the IX Civil Forum, disonnected  journalists under the pretext of exceeding\r\nthe participant limit. About 80 media workers accredited to the event could not\r\naccess it.

An online\r\npress-conference with the participation of the Minister of Ecology was meant to\r\nbe an important component of the IX Civil Forum. The accreditation for\r\neco-activists and journalists was announced two days before the event. A day\r\nbefore the press-conference, a WhatsApp chat was created, where to all 80  registered journalists and activists were\r\nadded.

The\r\npress-conference began on November 26 at 4 PM. However, almost no  chat participant could watch it. Those who\r\nmanaged to get connected to the conference, \r\nwere deleted by the moderators in a few seconds. When asked to explain\r\nthe reasons, the moderators said that the number of participants suddenly\r\nexceeded the limit. They added that they could not connect the other\r\nparticipants since the minister had already started reading his report. The\r\nrest of the chat participants were connected only when the minister finished\r\nhis report, half an hour after the beginning of the press-conference. It should\r\nbe noted that the entire conference lasted for 50 minutes.

One \r\njudicial act was  issued against\r\nmedia in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression ,\r\nthe receipt and dissemination of information in November\r\n2020. It was not in  favor of defendants.

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

- 9 criminal charges,  6  of\r\nthen  in  court.

- 2 claims and\r\nsuits in civil procedure. Both were claims for protection of honor, dignity and\r\nbusiness reputation.

- 5\r\nadministrative charges

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

- 57  criminal charges (including 19 in court).

- 32 administrative\r\ncharges (including 4 slander charges)

- 60  claims and suits in civil procedure.

Among them, 52\r\nclaims and lawsuits for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation.

- Claims for\r\ncompensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 79 million 110 thousand  tenge. The courts collected 975 thousand  993  tenge.

The monitoring was done according to reports of the\r\nAdil Soz Foundation\'s correspondents  and information from open sources.

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

For all monitoring questions, you\r\ncan also contact info@adilsoz.kz