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 MayMarch 2021.
It reports
\r\n- \"Adil Soz\"\r\npublished an analysis of a bill developed by the Ministry of Digital\r\nDevelopment, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan\r\nthat introduces a \"right to be forgotten\", and a ban on virtual\r\nprivate networks.
\r\nHuman rights activists\r\nbelieve that the proposed bill does not meet the requirements of proportionality and necessity for a\r\ndemocratic state to protect constitutionally significant values, as well as\r\npublic interests in the field of access to information.
\r\nAn analysis of the bill is available at\r\nhttp://www.adilsoz.kz/upload/210421.docx
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- The Committee of\r\nInformation of the Ministry of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan\r\ndemanded that Village.kz delete the news telling about the word “Cancel” written on the mural depicting the\r\nex-president of the country N. Nazarbayev.
\r\nOn May 28, The\r\nVillage.kz editors received an e-mail from the Information Committee of the\r\nMinistry of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan. It demanded to\r\ndelete the news about the word “Cancel” wrtitten on the mural depicting\r\nex-president of the country N. Nazarbayev. The Committee believed that the news\r\nwebsite posted information that “dishonored the image of the First President of\r\nthe Republic of Kazakhstan”. The Information Committee said in its letter that\r\nthe editors violated the norms of\r\nKazakhstani legislation related to the honor and dignity of the First President\r\nof the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the norms of the Facebook community,\r\nthat do not allow bullying and harassment. Besides it warned of respective\r\ncriminal and administrative liability.
\r\nThe editorial board did\r\nnot delete the news, but took into account the requirements of the Committee:\r\nthe controversial image in the news was blurred and an explanatory editorial\r\nnote was added at the beginning of the article.
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- An unknown man set\r\nupon journalist Oksana Matasova with\r\nblows in Kokshetau.
\r\nOne of the residents of\r\nKokshetau complained to the news website \"716.kz\" that her\r\n14-year-old son was hired for beautification of the city lake Kopa. The\r\nemployer did not sign an agreement with him and cheated him with payment.
\r\nOn May 26, journalist\r\nOksana Matasova arrived at the place of works and made a video of children who\r\nwere cleaning the irrigation canal.
\r\nSoon an unknown man\r\napproached her, the journalist greeted him and introduced herself. In response,\r\nthe stranger, cursed her out and\r\nattacked her with fists, demanding that she leave the site.
\r\nThe reporter had to retreat to a safe distanceunder the\r\nonslaught of threats. After the story was published on the 716.kz, the police\r\ncalled Matasova, and she filed a complaint to the law enforcement agencies\r\nasking taking action against the attacker \r\nfor “Petty hooliganism”, “Interferring with the professional activity of a journalist” and\r\n“Insult”.
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- Temirlan Ensebek,\r\nthe administrator of satirical Instagrampublic QazNews24 became a witness with\r\nthe right to defense in the case of disseminating deliberately false\r\ninformation. The jokes posted on the public were the reason for investigation.
\r\n\"The information\r\nposted on this account caused an ambiguous reaction from the public, as it\r\nmisinformed citizens,\" said a message published on the Polisia.kz website.
\r\nOn May 15, a search was\r\ncarried out in Temirlan\'s house in the absence of a lawyer. The police seized\r\noffice equipment. After the search, the activist was taken for interrogation to\r\nthe Almaty police department, where he spent about five hours. The police made\r\nhim sign an agreement of non-disclosure\r\nthe investigation data.
\r\nWhile interrogated,\r\nTemirlan Ensebek admitted authorship of\r\nthe Instagram page, but pleaded not guilty: “It was clearly written on the\r\npage that all coincidences with people\r\nand events are an absolute coincidence, the news are fake and the content is\r\nsatirical . I cannot be considered a criminal . The article 274 of the Criminal code is called \"dissemination\r\nof deliberately false information\". I did not deliberately\r\ndisseminate any false information.\r\n\"
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Six judicial acts was issued against media in connection with the\r\nexercise of the right to freedom of expression , the receipt and dissemination\r\nof information in May 2021. Four of them were in favor of defendants.
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The following\r\ncharges were filed in connection with\r\nthe exercise of the right to freedom of expression:
\r\n- 2 criminal\r\ncharges (including 1 in court)
\r\n- 3 civil claims and lawsuits (all of them for\r\nprotection of honor, dignity and business reputation).
\r\n- 2 administrative charges (including 1\r\nslander\r\ncharge)
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The following\r\ncharges were filed since the beginning of the year:
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- 14 criminal charge (7 in court).
\r\n- 27 claims and suits in civil procedure (25 of them for\r\nprotection of honor, dignity and business reputation).
\r\nClaims for\r\ncompensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 16 million 500 thousand tenge. The courts\r\ncollected 450 thousand tenge.
\r\n- 17\r\nadministrative charges
\r\nThe monitoring is based on the reports of the Adil\r\nSoz Foundation\'s and publicly available information
\r\nHead of monitoring service of Adil Soz Foundation
\r\nElena Tsoi
\r\ne-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz
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For all monitoring questions,\r\nyou can also contact info@adilsoz.kz
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