Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan November 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 November 2021.

Itreports:

- Ministry of\r\nInformation and Social Development (MISD) announced an agreement with Facebook\r\non \"close cooperation on countering harmful content, with a focus on\r\nprotecting the rights of children on the Internet\". In accordance with the\r\nagreement Facebook provided Kazakhstan with \"direct exclusive access to\r\nthe internal \"Content Reporting System\" (\"Content Reporting System\")\r\n(CRS)). Meta, the owner of the social network, denied the MIPD statement,\r\nsaying that there were no exclusive agreements with Kazakhstan, and the rules\r\nfor using Facebook are the same for all countries.

The joint statement of the Ministry of\r\nInformation and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MISD) and\r\nFacebook was published by the Ministry on November 1.

“As a first step towards our long-term\r\ncooperation, we are pleased to provide the Government of Kazakhstan with access\r\nto the “Content Reporting System”. We hope it will help the authorized bodies\r\nof the Government of Kazakhstan to fight harmful content more effectively and\r\nefficiently. The Facebook team will also continue to train Kazakhstani\r\nspecialists in the interests of ensuring the security of cyberspace,” the MISD\r\nmessage says.

The next day, November 2, Meta, the owner of\r\nthe social network, denied the MISD statement, saying that there were no\r\nexclusive agreements with Kazakhstan, and the rules for using Facebook are the\r\nsame for all countries. Meta spokesman Ben McConaughey told media that there\r\nwas no joint statement from the parties.

Meta spokesman Ben McConaughey told Reuters in\r\nan email: “The government of Kazakhstan has made its own statement in\r\nconnection with the talks we had with them. We were talking about our global\r\nrules for dealing with requests from authorities in various countries to\r\nrestrict access to content that violates local laws.

(…) We follow a consistent global process for\r\nevaluating individual requests – independent of any government – ​​in\r\naccordance with Facebook policy, local laws and international human rights\r\nstandards.”

In response to Meta\'s refutation, Minister of\r\nInformation and Social Development Aida Balayeva made a  post on her Facebook page saying: \"The\r\nMinistry of Information and Social Development had talks with Meta (Facebook)\r\nregional office for China, Mongolia and Central Asia that is located in Hong\r\nKong. The text of the joint statement posted on November 1 and its publication\r\nin the media were fully agreed with the heads of the said regional office.”

- A draft Decree of\r\nthe President of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Approval of the Concept of the\r\nAnti-Corruption Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2022-2026 and\r\nAmendments to Some Decrees of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan” was\r\npublished. A draft law is supposed to be developed by the end of 2025. The bill\r\nwill introduce the institution of anti-corruption investigative reporting.

- The Prosecutor\'s\r\nOffice of Petropavlovsk reversed the investigator\'s decision to            drop criminal charges on Interfering\r\nwith legal professional activity of journalist. The investigation initiated\r\nunder the claims of journalists from the North Kazakhstani office of Khabar 24\r\nTV  has been resumed again.

As it was reported, on\r\nAugust 2, journalists of the Petrovpavlovsk office of the Khabar TV came to the\r\nDostyk Mall shopping center to report the use of Ashyq program (QR code system\r\nto prevent COVID-19 infected and contact persons enter public places). Administrators\r\nof the mall approached them while the journalists were making video.  The reporters introduced themselves, showed\r\ntheir IDs and explained the purpose of the reporting. However, a senior\r\nsecurity officer of Dostyk Mall ordered his subordinates to push the\r\njournalists out and the security guards attacked the reporters with fists.

According to\r\njournalists, the police initiated a pre-trial investigation on Interfering with\r\nlegal professional activity of journalist.

The investigation\r\nlasted for several months, and on November 1, journalists learned that on\r\nOctober 24, an investigator from the Petropavlovsk police department ceased\r\ncriminal proceedings. The investigator’s decision states: “During the pre-trial\r\ninvestigation, it was established that the actions of the security guards of\r\nthe Dostyk Mall shopping center did not contain signs of a criminal offense\r\nunder Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, since\r\nthey were performing their job functions.”

On November 2, \"Adil soz\" received a response from the Police\r\nDepartment of the North Kazakhstan region. As it turned out, on November 1, the\r\nprosecutor\'s office of the city of Petropavlovsk reversed the decision of\r\nE.Akhay, the investigator of the police station of the city of Petropavlovsk,\r\nto drop criminal charges on Interfering with legal professional activity of\r\njournalist. The criminal case was returned to the Petropavlovsk Police\r\nDepartment for additional investigation.

- The court ordered\r\nthe akimat (mayor\'s office) of Taldykorgan to provide information to the\r\nPravo.kz media portal.

The court fully\r\nsatisfied the claim of Sabyr Makazhanov, the editor-in-chief of the media\r\nportal Pravo.kz. The court ruled that the defendants - the Akimat of the city\r\nof Taldykorgan, the state institution \"Department of housing and communal\r\nservices of the city of Taldykorgan\" - \r\nprovided access to the original decisions of the housing commission on\r\ngranting housing to some officials in 2014 and to provide  copies of the decisions.

At the end of June\r\nPravo.kz applied to government agencies with a request to provide this\r\ninformation. For four months, the editorial office did not receive neither\r\nanswers, nor replies or notifications on forwarding the media request to other state  bodies.

In October, the\r\neditor-in-chief of Pravo.kz filed a lawsuit.

- The deputy head of\r\nthe Atyrau region Kairat Nurlybaev appealed to the police  to institute criminal proceedings\r\nagainst  \"Ak Zhaiyk\"  reporters for violating privacy. Azamat\r\nMaitanov, the editor-in-chief of Ak Zhaiyk, \r\ntold about the pressure that the journalists of the newspaper\r\nexperience.

On October 18, 2021 Ak\r\nZhaiyk published an article telling that \r\nthe deputy akim became a defendant in a criminal investigation of\r\nappropriation or embezzlement of entrusted another\'s property. That was the\r\nground for the official\'s claim to police.

Ak Zahiyk reporter\r\nFarkhat Abilov referred to his sources in \r\nthe article. According to them, Nurlybaev was suspected of illegally\r\nallocating subsidies for 80 million tenge to a poultry farm in Kurmangazy\r\ndistrict (at that time he was the head of the agriculture department). The\r\narticle was published on Ak Zhaiyk website and on the same day the press\r\nservice of the Akimat (mayor\'s office) of Atyrau region officially confirmed\r\nthat K. Nurlybaev was under investigation and provided some related details and\r\nfigures.

After Azamat Maitanov\'s\r\nstatement about the pressure, the Ministry of Information and Social\r\nDevelopment of Kazakhstan, expressed its readiness to help the journalists of\r\nAk Zhaiyk.

“It is unacceptable to\r\npressure on journalists while they are performing their professional duties,”\r\nthe MIDS in ts responce to information request from new agency MIA KazTAG.

At the same time, the\r\nministry added, “the media outlet and the author of the article are responsible\r\nfor  the accuracy of the information.”

On November 19, the\r\nakim of Atyrau region announced on a press-conference  that his deputy Kairat Nurlybaev withdrew the\r\ncomplaint and refused from for criminal prosecution of journalists.

In November 2021, the courts issued 1 decision on a\r\nclaim for the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation against the\r\nmedia in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression,\r\nreceipt and dissemination of information. The court dismissed the claim in\r\nfull.

The following charges were filed in connection with\r\nthe exercise of the right to freedom of expression in November 2021:

- 2 criminal charges (1 in court)

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

- 1 administrative offence charge

The following charges were filed since the beginning\r\nof the year:

- 27 criminal charges (12 in court).

- 61 claims and suits in civil procedure (54 of them\r\nfor protection of honor, dignity and business reputation).

Claims for compensation for non-pecuniary damage\r\namounted to 26 million 700 thousands tenge. The courts collected 1 million 290\r\nthousand tenge.

- 26 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 e-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz

For all monitoring questions, you can also contact\r\ninfo@adilsoz.kz