Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan April 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 April 2021.

It reports:

- The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry\r\nof the Republic of Kazakhstan proposes to introduce the \"right to be\r\nforgotten.\" Human rights defenders believe that the introduction of this\r\nlegal norm will lead to de facto censorship, block journalistic investigations\r\nand, in general, will seriously stymie the fight against corruption.

On March 13\r\na large, almost all-encompassing draft law entitled \"On Amendments and\r\nadditions to certain legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the\r\npromotion of innovation, the development of digitalization and information\r\nsecurity\" was  published on the\r\nweb-site of regulatory legal acts\r\n(https://legalacts.egov.kz/npa/view?id=8062189 ) The author is the Ministry of\r\nDigital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan.

Among many\r\nother things, the authors  of the bill\r\npropose to make amendments to the law \"On Informatization\". Namely, they\r\noffer to introduce the right to be forgotten: \"Upon request of an\r\nindividual or his legal representative the owner of an Internet resource is\r\nobliged to remove outdated or irrelevant information from the search data in\r\naccordance  the submitted Internet\r\nresource identifier.\"

Adil Soz\r\nFoundation that made a statement on the draft law believes that nformation\r\nabout previously committed crimes and even minor frauds may appear\r\n\"irrelevant\" or \"outdated\" to officials and others who want\r\nto hide the unsightly facts of their biography.

The officials\r\nlobbying for these amendments refer to the European experience but their\r\narguments are completely groundless, since today there is no such  international legal norm as the right to be\r\nforgotten and no legally adopted regulation of this issue.

“The\r\n\"right to be forgotten\" contradicts the constitutional right to seek\r\nand receive information and creates an obvious imbalance between private and\r\npublic interests. The introduction of this rule will de facto introduce\r\ncensorship, block journalistic investigations and stymie anticorruption efforts”\r\n– the statement says.

Human\r\nrights defenders believe the introduction of the\" right to be forgotten\r\n\" in Kazakhstan is premature and dangerous, and we demand to exclude this\r\nprovision from the draft law.

Among\r\nother amendments the developers of the draft law propose to introduce a ban on\r\nthe operation of virtual private networks on the Internet that are not\r\nregistered in the manner determined by the authorized body, as well as the use\r\nof hardware and (or) software for accessing prohibited information.

- Shymkent police rudely interfered to the work of journalists covering\r\nthe protest action of Altyntobe residents.

- On April 4, unidentified persons in civilian\r\nclothes interefed in the work of Azattyk reporter Dilara Isa, who was covering\r\na protest of residents of Altyntobe village \r\nnear Shymkent. Unknown persons covered the camera lens with an open\r\numbrella and with their hands, one of them tried to grab the camera from the\r\njournalist. Despite Dilara\'s request, the police officer who was present at the\r\nsite took no action against the man.

- Bakhrom\r\nAbdullaev,  31 Channel reporter, was\r\ncovering the detention of protesters at the jewelry shop in the village of Altyntobe.\r\nPolice officers injured him  and broke\r\nhis umbrella, which he used to cover the camera.

“I held\r\nthe umbrella over my cameraman because it was raining. A man in police uniform\r\ntook my umbrella and pulled it over the camera to cover the lens, the umbrella\r\nwas broken and my hand was injured. Then the cameraman of the Otyrar TV\r\nDavranbek was hit in the kidneys. He turned around and saw that it was a\r\nspecial polce force officer  who hit  him, ”Bakhrom Abdullayev said.

On April\r\n5, journalists from three media outlets - TV channels \"KTK\",\r\n\"Astana\" and \"Channel 31\" came to the Shymkent akimat\r\n(mayor\'s office) and demanded to stop pressure on journalists. In their hands\r\nthey held posters \"Stop police arbitrariness!\", \"Stop beating\r\njournalists!\"

The head\r\nof the Shymkent police department, Yergali Zharmukhambetov, apologized to the\r\njournalists and announced the begining of inner \r\ninspection. He promised to put the guilty ones  to justice.

On April\r\n5, the International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech Adil Soz\r\nmade a statement on the inadmissibility of attacks on journalists.

\"Adil soz\" called on the\r\nMinister of the Interior Affair to take the cases of police attacks on\r\njournalists under his personal control and bring the guilty persons to justice.\r\nBesides human rights activists called on the Prosecutor General of the Republic\r\nof Kazakhstan to personally supervise the observance of the rule of law in this\r\ncase.

- Moderator\r\ndisconnected journalist from online press conference for asking a question that\r\nwas \"not on the topic of the press conference\"

On\r\nApril 9, Marzhan Baktiyarkyzy,  moderator of the Central Communications\r\nService (CCS), disconnected  journalist Serikzhan Mauletbay from online\r\npress conference of Deputy Prime Minister Yeraly Tugzhanov for asking a\r\nquestion that was \"not on the topic of the press conference\",\r\nInformburo.kz reports.

The\r\ntheme of the press conference was: \"On the work of the state commission\r\nfor the  rehabilitation of victims of political repression and its\r\nregional branches.\" However, the journalists were also interested in other\r\nissues. So, Ainur Koskina asked the Deputy Prime Minister about the production\r\nof Kazakhstan\'s QazVac vaccine, and Kuntu Arynbek asked the Minister of\r\nEducation and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askhat Aimagambetov about\r\nthe post a rector of one of the universities made about Kenesary Khan\'s head.\r\nBoth questions were answered.

However,\r\nwhen Serikzhan Mauletbay said that his question is about the pandemic, the\r\nmoderator immediately interrupted him. Moreover  after his indignation,\r\nshe disconnected him from Zoom.

It should be\r\nnoted that Yeraly Tugzhanov is the chairman of the Interdepartmental\r\nCommission on COVID-19 nonproliferation. Journalists complain that he\r\nvery rarely goes to the press.

- Court in Kyzylorda acquitted  journalist on charges of insult

B.\r\nZhanabayev, judge of the Kyzylorda city Court No. 2 acquitted website\r\n\"HALYQLINE.KZ\" reporter Zibash Abdiyeva charged with insult. The\r\nlawsuit was filed by K. Iryukov, the acting head of the Infracos institution.

K. Iryukov\r\nconsidered that the journalist insulted him in an indecent form using the media\r\nand damaged  his honor and dignity. He demanded\r\nto institute criminal proceedings against

Z.Abdiyeva.

The grounds\r\nfor the lawsuit was a satirical article by Z.Abdiyeva \"Balekor\r\nbastyk-uzhymnyn sory\" (\"Scandalous boss — trouble for the\r\nteam\"), published on HALYQLINE.KZ on November 20, 2020.

Having\r\nstudied all the circumstances of the case, the judge concluded that there were\r\nno insults in the article, and a guilty verdict could not be made on the basis\r\nof the plaintiff\'s assumptions. Moreover, the judge noted that Z.Abdiyeva may\r\napply for reparation of damage due to illegal prosecution.

The Public\r\nCenter for Expertise of the Adil Soz Foundation presented expert opinion on the\r\ncontroversial phrases contained in the article \"Scandalous boss — trouble\r\nfor the team \".

On April 21\r\nthe appeal board of the Kyzylorda Regional Court dismissed the claim of civil\r\nsuitor K. Iryukov and supported the acquittal.

Three  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 April 2021. Two of them were \r\nin  favor of defendants.

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

- 4\r\ncriminal charges (including 3 in court)

- 8 civil  claims and lawsuits (all of them for\r\nprotection of honor, dignity and business reputation).

- 3  administrative charges (including 2 slander\r\ncharges)

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

- 10  criminal charge (6  in court).

- 24  claims and suits in civil procedure (22 of\r\nthem for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation). Claims for\r\ncompensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 16  million 500 thousand tenge. The courts collected\r\n5 million 150 thousand  tenge.

- 16  administrative charges

The monitoring is based on the reports of the Adil Soz\r\nFoundation\'s and publicly available information

Head of monitoring service of Adil Soz Foundation

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

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