Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan January 2021

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 January 2021.

It reports:

- Human rights activists note the increased pressure on\r\nindependent observers and civil society activists on the eve of the\r\nparliamentary elections. Tax authoritites suspended activity of several human\r\nright organizations for three months and \r\nimposed multimillion fines. \r\nKazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law was one\r\nof them.

According\r\nto human rights activists,  pressure on\r\nindependent observers and activists has increased n the eve of the\r\nparliamentary elections . Civil society activists were arrested for calling for\r\nillegal rallies, of involvement in the activities of organizations banned by a\r\ncourt decision.

In\r\nJanuary, the tax authorities fined several non-governmental organizations  for millions tenge for alleged violations in\r\nfilling out tax reporting forms of an informational nature.

-\r\nOn January 15, the public foundation \"Echo\" was fined for more than\r\none million tenge by the decision of the State Revenue Department for the\r\nAlmaly district of Almaty, the activity of the organization was suspended for\r\nthree months.

-\r\nOn January 25 the International Legal Initiative was fined more than one\r\nmillion tenge or the same reasons, its activity was suspended  til April 15, 2021.

-\r\nOn January 25, the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of\r\nLaw received an order to pay a fine and suspend its activities til April 15, 2021;

-\r\nThe activity of Central Asia\'s first fact-checking resource Factcheck.kz,\r\nstarted and managed by  the NGO\r\n\"MediaNet International Center for Journalism\", may be suspended due\r\nto pressure from the tax authorities, which NGOs have been faced since November\r\nlast year.

Human\r\nrights activists are going to appeal the decisions of the State Revenue\r\nDepartment to the State Revenue Department and to the courts.

The\r\ninternational human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned\r\nthe \"ongoing repressive measures\" against human rights organizations\r\nin Kazakhstan.

The\r\ninternational organization Front Line Defenders called the pressure on NGOs\r\nunprecedented.

- On the day of elections to the Mazhilis\r\n(lower chamber) of the Parliament, the media faced obstacles in covering the\r\nprogress of the voting. Most often, members of election commission explained\r\nobstruction to journalists\' work by  \r\nsanitary demands and fighting spread of COVID-19.

- Nurzhan Iskakov, the chairman of the precinct election commission No.\r\n173 in Almaty, used force to  push\r\naway  Azattyk radio reporter Ayan\r\nKalmurat  under the pretext that the\r\njournalist did not have a PCR test.

Later, the head of the precinct, in an explanatory letter addressed to\r\nthe head of the territorial election commission, Zhanna Asanova, wrote that\r\nAyan had introduced himself as an observer and did not present documents\r\nconfirming that he is a journalist.

“There was a misunderstanding in the dialogue between your employee and\r\nthe representative of the precinct election commission,” Asanova said.

- After the Azattyk reporter Asylkhan Mamashuly drew the attention of\r\nmembers of precinct commissions and observers to the fact that some voters\r\nthrew more than three ballots into the ballot box (in the regions three ballots\r\nwere given: for elections to the majilis, the district maslikhat ( council) and\r\nthe regional maslikhat) the head of the polling station No. 446 demanded that\r\nAzattyk reporter leave the precinct. She referred to the fact that Almaty\r\nregion was in the “yellow zone” for the risk of COVID-19, so she could let\r\nthe  journalist to work for five minutes\r\nonly.

On the evening of January 10, \r\nAzattyk reporter was not allowed to attend the counting of votes at\r\npolling stations 4 and 5 in Almaty. The chairman called the police, stating\r\nthat media representatives were not allowed to attend. The head of the district\r\nelection commission also spoke out against the presence of the journalist.

- Correspondent of \"Nasha Gazeta\" Georgy Govorov was not\r\nallowed to the polling station No. 1 half an hour before the counting of votes.\r\nThe pretext was the lack of seats for observers. Such decision was made by the\r\nprecinct election commission.

- The chairman of the election commission No. 318 in Nur-Sultan\r\ndemanded that Azattyk reporter Sania Toiken stop filming the actions of the\r\nmembers of the election commission. The pretext was that the journalist\r\ninterfered with the process and did not have a PCR test though  the journalist was makeing video from a\r\ndistance of 4 meters.

- Orda.kz reporter Saule Sadenova was not allowed to enter the 379\r\npolling station in Almaty on the grounds that the she did not have a PCR test\r\nfor Covid-19. It took her half an hour to remind and explain  the rules for the journalist and to get\r\nthrough.

Also, France Press news agency journalist reported that he was not\r\nallowed to enter precincts under the pretext of the lack of a PCR test.

- Elena Kulakova, Radio Azattyk reporter for the Karaganda region,  was demanded to take a PCR test right at the\r\nprecinct. She was told that otherwise she could not come in and cover the\r\nelections. Elena had to state that the \r\ndecree of the chief state sanitary doctor does not demand  journalists to take PCR tests. After that she\r\nwas allowed to continue working.

According to Elena, other journalists passed the test.

- At polling station 894 in Almaty, Azattyk reporter Nurtai Lakhanuly\r\nwas not allowed to cover the votes count. He had to call the spokesperson  of the akim of the Enbekshikazakh district of\r\nthe Almaty region. The spokesperson  in\r\nhis turn turn, made a call to the chairman of the commission and the journalist\r\nwas allowed to do his work.

- The Uralsk police,\r\non behalf of the prosecutor\'s office, initiated a pre-trial investigation into\r\nthe  article “Land scandal in Uralsk -\r\nthe mother of the prosecutor became the owner of five land plots” published in\r\nUralskaya Nedelya. The chief editor of the newspaper, Lukpan Akhmedyarov, was\r\nsummoned for interrogation.

- On January 30, on Saturday, the chief editor\r\nof Uralskaya Gazeta, Lukpan Akhmedyarov, was summoned to testify at the Abay\r\npolice department of Uralsk. The police received an order from the prosecutor\r\nto initiate a pre-trial investigation into the article \"Land scandal in\r\nUralsk - the mother of the prosecutor became the owner of five land plots\"\r\npublished by  the newspaper\r\n\"Uralskaya Nedelya\"  on\r\nNovember 27, 2020

The Department of Internal Affairs did not\r\ninform  Akhmedyarov about the charges.

- For the whole\r\nmonth  Pavlodar journalists cannot get\r\ndetails of the criminal case initiated in response to the  article by journalist Olga Voronko. The\r\nPolice Department refuses to provide information, citing the \"interests of\r\nthe investigation.\"

The Pavlodar region police department refused\r\nto hold a briefing and provide details of the criminal case, that was initiated\r\nafter an article by journalist Olga Voronko.As it was reported, the article\r\n“21-year-old millionaire is arming the police” was published on December 26 on\r\nthe ratel.kz. The article told about the state procurement carried out by the\r\npolice department of Pavlodar region in a special order.

For the whole month, Pavlodar journalists\r\nrepeatedly appealed to the press service of the Pavlodar region police\r\ndepartment with a request to clarify the charges in  dissemination of information about private\r\nlife filed in response to Olga Voronko\'s article. The investigation into the\r\ncase has been going on for a month now, but no one knows any details (at what\r\nstage it is, what is the journalist\'s procedural status, what she is suspected\r\nof and what information she disseminated was considered the private life of the\r\napplicant).

The press service refused to conduct a\r\nbriefing on the case, saying that information on the case can not be disclosed\r\nin the interests of the investigation.

8 \r\njudicial acts 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 January\r\n2021. Five of them\r\nwas  in  favor of defendants.

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

- 1 criminal charges,  none  in\r\n court.

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

Claims for\r\ncompensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 11 million tenge. The courts collected\r\n5 million  tenge.

- 2\r\nadministrative charges

The monitoring was done according to reports of the\r\nAdil Soz Foundation\'s

Head of monitoring service of Adil Soz Foundation

Elena Tsoi
\r\ne-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz

For all monitoring questions, you can also\r\ncontact info@adilsoz.kz