Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan August 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 August 2021.

It reports:

- The Ministry of\r\nDigital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry instructed to notify the\r\nowners and registrars of .KZ and .KAZ domain names located on the server\r\nhardware, where a web site with a registered domain name is used, outside the\r\nRepublic of Kazakhstan that the use of their \r\ndomain names registration may be suspended in case  web sites are not transerred to a server\r\nhardware located in Kazakhstan before September 3, 2021.

In accordance with the “Rules for\r\nregistration, use and allocation of domain space in  the Kazakhstan segment of the Internet”,\r\ndomain name registration in  the\r\nKazakhstan segment of the Internet may be suspended in case the server\r\nhardware, where a web site with a registered domain name is used, located\r\noutside the Republic of Kazakhstan .

\"In case the appropriate measures are\r\ntaken to transfer a web site to a server hardware located in the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan, the Committee may consider the possibility of postponing the\r\nsuspension of registration of such domain names for the time required to\r\ntransfer them,\" says the letter signed by the Chairman of the state agency\r\nInformation SecurityCommittee R. Abdikalikov.

Experts consider this initiative a “giant\r\nmistake”.

The president of the Internet Association of\r\nKazakhstan, Shavkat Sabirov,  in an\r\ninterview to the Vremya newspaper in January 2021, said that it did not make\r\nsense to force web sites to be transferred to servers located in Kazakhstan:\r\n“If a web site is involved in any illegal actions,  it can be blocked. A person has the right to\r\nchoose  where to keep hisweb site and on\r\nwhat conditions. We have been fighting for a long time to have this norm\r\nabolished. Because this is a real hamper on the use of the KZ domain ”.  Sabirov noted that the registration rules\r\nissued by the ministry are a by-law that does not have the force of law:\r\n“Therefore,  from a legal point of view,\r\nit can be sued”.

Political scientist Marat Shibutov considers\r\nBagdat Musin\'s demand to transfer web sites to Kazakhstan servers a “giant\r\nmistake”: “They say that the ministry makes the same demands to foreign social\r\nnetworks and web sites, including Yandex, Vkontakte, Mail.ru, Instagram,\r\nFacebook and Twitter. They were  told to\r\nhave their servers in Kazakhstan as well. (…) It is a giant mistake of Bagdat\r\nMusin as a minister - it seems that he will destroy Kaznet and spoil the country\'s\r\nrelations with the world\'s leading Internet giants, if he does not stop in time\r\n”.

- “Khabar” reporters\r\nturned to be victims of  security\r\nguards  in Petropavlovsk and Almaty.

On August 2, Tolegen Imanov, Samat Dzhakupov\r\nand Natalya Volkova, journalists of the Petrovpavlovsk office of the Khabar\r\nTV  came to the Dostyk Mall shopping\r\ncenter to report the use of Ashyq program (special system of visitors entrance\r\nby QR code that shows if a person is \r\nCOVID-19 positive or contacted someone who is infected). When they were\r\nrecording a video  they  administrators of the mall came to them. The\r\nreporters introduced themselves, showed their IDs and explained the purpose of\r\nthe reporting. However, a senior security officer of Dostyk Mall ordered his\r\nsubordinates to push the journalists out and the security guards attacked the\r\nreporters with fists.

The journalists called the police and reported\r\ninterference with their legitimate professional activities.

On August 24,Akbope Tanirbergen, Khabar-24 TV\r\nreporter, and the cameraman came to the akimat (mayor\'s office) of the Alatau\r\ndistrict of Almaty. When the journalist tried to enter the elevator, the guard\r\ngrabbed her and forcibly carried her to the exit. He threw her out of the\r\nbuilding and slammed the door. None of the akimat employees interfered despite\r\nthe girl\'s desperate cries.

The akimat of the Alatau district said that\r\nthe reason of the incident was the refusal of the TV channel employees to scan\r\ntheir COVID-status in Ashiq app and that it was the journalist  who provoked the conflict. Nevertheless, the akimat\r\ncalled the behavior of its employee unacceptable and promised to carry out an\r\ninternal investigation.

- In Semey, the court\r\nruled to expel Serik Ualikhanov, a Russian citizen with a residence permit in\r\nthe Republic of Kazakhstan, head of the media center Alpha Marino Group, from\r\nthe country  for violations of\r\nadministrative legislation.

Serik Ualikhanov believes that police\r\nfiled  a petition to expel him from the\r\ncountry for his participation in covering the actual problems of the city. In\r\nparticular, he covered  the public\r\nstatements of regional and city businessmen who criticized the actions of the\r\nlocal authorities.

The Semey police department argued that it\r\nfiled a petition to expel Ualikhanov from the country since he was brought to\r\nadministrative responsibility for 6 times: \r\nfor violating of the trafic rules in October 2020,  for expired driving licenсe  , insurance and a registration\r\ncertificate that not  indicating a lane\r\nchange on July 2, 2021 , as well as for violation of the legislation on the\r\nresidence of a foreigner without registration at a permanent place of\r\nresidence.

In accordance with the decision of the Semey\r\nCity Court, Serik Ualikhanov must leave the country within 10 days from the\r\ndate of the announcement of the court ruling. According to the Law on the Legal\r\nStatus of Foreigners, he is prohibited from entering the country for five years\r\nfrom the date of execution of the court\'s expulsion order.

- Kazakhstan ranked\r\n128th out of 167 in the Economist Global Democracy Index.

In the Index Kazakhstan ranked up Congo (129th\r\nplace) and ranked down Zimbabwe (127th place). At the same time, the overall\r\nrating of Kazakhstan is 3.14 points. In the category \"Electoral process\r\nand pluralism\", the country scored 0.5 points, in the category \"Government\r\nactivities\" - 3.21, in the category \"Political participation\" -\r\n5, in the category \"Political culture\" - 3.75, in the category\r\n\"Civil freedom \"- 3.24.

Among the countries of the former USSR, Latvia\r\nranked 38, Lithuania - 42, Ukraine - 79, Moldova - 80, Armenia - 89, Georgia -\r\n91, Kyrgyzstan - 107, Russia - 124, Azerbaijan - 146, Belarus - by 148,\r\nUzbekistan - by 155, Tajikistan - by 159, Turkmenistan - by 162.

At the same time, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia,\r\nGeorgia and Kyrgyzstan are classified as countries with hybrid regimes, and\r\nRussia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and\r\nTurkmenistan are classified as countries with an authoritarian regimes.

9 \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 August 2021. Seven 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:

- 1\r\ncriminal charge (1 in court)

- 3 civil  claims and lawsuits (2 of them for protection\r\nof honor, dignity and business reputation).

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

- 21  criminal charge (10  in court).

- 47  claims and suits in civil procedure (44 of\r\nthem for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation).

Claims for\r\ncompensation for non-pecuniary damage amounted to 25  million tenge. The courts collected 1 million\r\n190  thousand  tenge.

- 25  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