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 December 2021.
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Itreports:
\r\n- The heads of media\r\norganizations and the media appealed to the President of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan, Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan, the Commissioner for Human Rights and members of the National\r\nCouncil of Public Trust and expressed their concern about the prospect of\r\nreforming the national legislation regulating the limits of freedom of speech.
\r\nThe journalistic\r\ncommunity is concerned about the prospect of reforming national legislation\r\nregulating the limits of freedom of speech. Since 2017 the Ministers of\r\nInformation have been promised to\r\ndevelop a new law on the media but failed to do so.
\r\nThe authors of the\r\nappeal believe: “The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan \"On Mass\r\nMedia\", that has been in effect since 1999, is outdated and should be\r\nreplaced. 167 amendments have been made\r\nto it by now, major part of them are aimed at strengthening and expanding the\r\naccounting and control functions of state bodies. At the same time, it does not\r\ncontain specific obligations of the state to ensure the right to freedom of\r\nspeech, clear conditions for limiting this right in accordance with Art. 19 of\r\nthe International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Art. 39 of the\r\nConstitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, \r\nresponsibility for violation of these restrictions, responsibility for\r\nunjustified restriction of the right to freedom of speech and other norms that\r\nare to be taken into account in the digital era.”
\r\nThe media community\r\nnotes: the real goal of the legislative amendments developed by the Ministry of\r\nInformation and Social Development is to\r\nexpand the control and accounting functions of the ministry itself, to restrict\r\nthe public use of the Internet, online TV broadcasting and social networks. These\r\ngoals cannot be recognized as constitutional.
\r\nJournalists are asking\r\nthe head of state to take special control over the work on the draft law regulating the media and freedom of\r\nspeech, in order to ensure its publicity and collegiality. This should start\r\nwith the development of concepts for reforming media legislation.
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- The UN Committee recognized the\r\nviolation of the rights of Sharip Kurakbaev to freedom of speech in 2013, when\r\nthe newspaper Pravda Kazahstana, that he headed, was suspended for several\r\nmonths for formal reasons.
\r\nBack in\r\n2013, the courts suspended the newspaper Pravda Kazahstan for three months. It\r\nbelonged to the oppositional Communist Party of Kazakhstan. The grounds for\r\nsuspension were purely formal - confusion with the certificates of\r\nre-registration of the newspaper. After going through all national courts, the\r\neditor-in-chief of the newspaper, Sharip Kurakbayev, filed a complaint with the\r\nUN Human Rights Committee.
\r\nOn December\r\n7, 2021, a response to this complaint came from the UN Human Rights Committee.\r\nThe Committee admitted that in 2013 the Kazakh authorities groundlessly\r\nrestricted the right of Sharip Kurakbayev to freedom of speech, thereby\r\nviolating Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political\r\nRights.
\r\n«Accordingly,\r\nthe State party is obligated, inter alia, to provide Ms. Sabdikenova with\r\nadequate compensation, including reimbursement for any legal costs and\r\nadministrative fines incurred by Mr. Kurakbaev. The State party is also under\r\nan obligation to take all steps necessary to prevent similar violations from\r\noccurring in the future. In this connection, the Committee reiterates that, pursuant\r\nto its obligations under article 2 (2) of the Covenant, the State party should\r\nreview its legislation», - says the document by UN Human Rights Committee
\r\nThe\r\nCommittee wishes to receive from Kazakhstan, within 180 days, information about\r\nthe measures taken to give effect to the Committee’s Views.
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- Ex-deputy of the\r\nMajilis (lower chamber) of the Parliament Mr.B. Tleukhan attacked Vesti.kg\r\nreporter Ms. Ainur Koskina. The journalist appealed to the police. She insisted\r\non opening an investigation for Interfering\r\nwith legal professional activity of journalist (Article 158 of the Criminal\r\nCode of the Republic of Kazakhstan
\r\nOn December 29,\r\nBekbolat Tleukhan, a deputy of the Mazhilis of the parliament from the ruling\r\nNur Otan party, who resigned his deputy powers that day, attacked Vesti.kg\r\nreporter Ainur Koskina on the sidelines of the parliament. The journalist asked\r\nhim about public discussion of polygamy.\r\nAccording to the editorial office, the\r\nex-mazhilisman reacted effusively.
\r\nThe incident took place\r\nin an elevator that the journalist entered together with Tleukhan. “When the\r\ndoors of the elevator closed, Bekbolat Tleukhan hit Ainur Koskina on the head\r\nand broke the mobile phone tripod,” the editorial office reports.
\r\nThe Vesti.kg reporter appealed to the police\r\nand insisted on opening an investigation\r\nfor Interfering with legal professional\r\nactivity of journalist (Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan.
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- The Department of\r\nthe Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Accounts of the General\r\nProsecutor\'s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the Atyrau Region\r\nconfirmed that the Department of Culture, Archives and Documentation violated\r\nthe terms for considering information requests from the editorial office of Ak\r\nZhaiyk .
\r\nAk Zhaiyk reporter\r\nAinur Saparova told in her article “A long answer to a simple question” dated\r\nDecember 28, 2021,
\r\nthat the editors of “Ak\r\nZhaiyk” had to spend a month and a half to get an answer to one question - how\r\nmuch did the Atyrau region spent on the celebration of the 30th anniversary of\r\nindependence of Kazakhstan .
\r\nThe journalist asked\r\nthe question back on November 9 at a briefing where the head of the Department\r\nof Culture, Archives and Documentation Akylbek Ryskaliyev participated. A. Ryskaliyev replied that he would be able\r\nto provide the exact figure “later”. Though the answer was not given. On\r\nNovember 15, the editors sent an official information request to the Department\r\nof culture, archives and documentation of the Atyrau region. And there was no\r\nresponse again. So Ak Zhaiyk filed a complaint with the Department of the\r\nCommittee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the General Prosecutor\'s\r\nOffice of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the Atyrau Region.
\r\nOn December 24, the\r\nregional Department of the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Accounts\r\nof the General Prosecutor\'s Office for the Atyrau region reported: “In the\r\ncourse of inspection the Department\r\nfound 2 facts of violation of the deadlines for considering media requests for\r\nref. No. 102-r dated 11/15/2021 and 11/19/2021, provided for by Part 2 of\r\nArticle 18-1 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the Mass Media”,\r\ncommitted by the Department of Culture,\r\nArchives and Documentation of Atyrau Region. On the grounds of the results of\r\nthe inspection, measures were taken to eliminate the identified violations of\r\nthe law and to impose disciplinary liability on the violators.
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In December 2021, the courts issued 3 decisions 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. None of in the defendant\'s favor.
\r\nThe following charges were filed in connection with\r\nthe exercise of the right to freedom of expression in December 2021:
\r\n- 6 civil claims and lawsuits (5 of them for\r\nprotection of honor, dignity and business reputation).
\r\n- 3 administrative offence charge
\r\nThe following charges were filed since the beginning\r\nof the year:
\r\n- 27 criminal charges (12 in court).
\r\n- 67 claims and suits in civil procedure (59 of them\r\nfor protection of honor, dignity and business reputation).
\r\nClaims for compensation for non-pecuniary damage\r\namounted to 27 million 700 thousands tenge. The courts collected 1 million 490\r\nthousand tenge.
\r\n- 29 administrative charges
\r\nThe monitoring is based on the reports of the Adil Soz\r\nFoundation\'s and publicly available information
\r\nHead of monitoring service of Adil Soz Foundation
\r\nElena Tsoi e-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz
\r\nFor all monitoring questions, you can also contact\r\ninfo@adilsoz.kz
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