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 January 2022.
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Itreports:
\r\n- More than 50 facts\r\nof violations of the safety of journalists and bloggers were recorded in\r\nconnection with the coverage of the January \r\nrallies that escalated into mass armed riots. These include a death of a\r\nmedia employee, detention of\r\njournalists, attacks, injuries, summons to police.
\r\nIn the context of the\r\ntragic riots, human rights organizations and coalitions created the Human\r\nRights Alliance in Support of Fundamental Rights in Kazakhstan.
\r\nThe main goal of the\r\nHuman Rights Alliance is to promote an objective and impartial chronology of\r\nthe protests, to analyze the actions of\r\nlaw enforcement agencies and various groups of demonstrators and the reasons\r\nfor the turning of peaceful protests\r\ninto violence, to ensure respect for the fundamental rights of citizens during\r\nthe investigation, so that the standards of a fair trial are strictly observed,\r\nto deter torture and ill-treatment, to ensure that everyone is made responsible\r\njust for what he or she did, to ensure fair punishment of the guilty ones and\r\nto deter prosecution of the innocent, to ensure a clear distinguish of peaceful\r\nprotesters, including representatives of the political opposition and civilian\r\nactivists from those who carried out\r\nviolent actions”.
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- An official from the\r\nTurkestan region ordered the murder of journalist Amangeldy Batarybekov.
\r\nOn the night of January\r\n4, unknown persons shot and wounded the son of Amangeldy Batyrbekov the editor\r\nof the newspaper \"Saryagash info\". It happened in the village of\r\nSaryagash, Turkestan region, near the house where the journalist lives. The journalist is sure that he was the target\r\nof the attack.
\r\nTwo months before the\r\nincident, Amangeldy Batyrbekov announced\r\nin Facebook that he would soon publish an investigation called \"What are\r\nthe links between the deputy of the Turkestan regional maslikhat (local\r\ncouncil), the prosecutor of the Shymkent city prosecutor\'s office and the deputy\r\nchairman of the anti-corruption agency.\" 4 days ago, he published a\r\ncritical article about a medical institution in \"Saryagash info\"\r\nnewspaper, calling the Vice Minister of\r\nHealth of the Republic of Kazakhstan A. Giniyat and Prosecutor of the Turkestan\r\nRegion M. Alikhanov to pay attention. Few hours before the attempted murder of\r\nhis son the journalist posted another\r\narticle “ Zhanaozen: the changes began”.
\r\nOn January 21, the\r\npolice of the Turkestan region announced the detention of suspects in the attempted\r\nmurder of Amangeldy Batyrbekov, editor of the Saryagash Info newspaper, and\r\nthat the person that ordered the crime had been identified. It turned out to be\r\nan official who estimated the life of a journalist at 5 million tenge. In\r\ntotal, 5 suspects involved in the crime were detained. Police seized 2 VAZ\r\ncars, bought with the money received from the official, and 16-gauge\r\ncartridges.
\r\n- Seven journalists and bloggers who\r\ncovered the protests were hold administratively liable on charges of violating\r\nthe law on rallies.
\r\nOn January 6, Bakhyt Smagul,\r\neditor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Bukpa, was arrested for 5 days on\r\ncharges of violating the state of emergency. Smagul, as a member of the Public\r\ncommission for work with youth and clarification of the situation, considered\r\nit his duty to attend the unsanctioned youth rally in order to prevent possible\r\nprovocations.
\r\nOn January 7, Uralskaya Nedelya\r\njournalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov was arrested for 10 days on charges of\r\nparticipating in an unsanctioned rally. Lukpan explained in detail in court\r\nthat he went not to participate in the rally, but to cover it, i.e. performed\r\nhis professional duties. When rioters called to destroy an administrative\r\nbuilding, he could not stand it and, as a citizen, called on the rioters not to\r\nsuccumb to provocations. The incident was recorded on video in his smartphone.
\r\nOn January 11 Daryn Nursapar, the\r\neditor of the Altai News website, was placed under administrative arrest for 15\r\ndays on charges of participating in an unsanctioned rally. The heads of \"ShygysAkparat\" media holding in\r\nEast Kazakhstan forbade their\r\njournalists to attend rallies. Nevertheless, the editor of the website \"Altai\r\nNews\" Daryn Nursapar considered it his professional duty to cover the\r\nextraordinary events in the city. On January 5, he made a video of a rally in\r\nUst-Kamenogorsk and posted the video on his Facebook page.
\r\nOn January 9, Alexandra Osipova, an\r\nInstagram blogger from Ust-Kamenogorsk, was found guilty of organizing illegal\r\nrallies. According to the administrative protocol, on January 5, Alexandra\r\nOsipova broadcasted live from the Republic Square in Ust-Kamenogorsk on her\r\npage on the social network and called on citizens to participate in an illegal\r\nrally. On January 26, the court of appeal reclassified the article, finding the\r\nblogger guilty not of organizing an illegal rally but of participating in it.
\r\nOn January 10, the administrative\r\noffenses court of the city of Turkestan found Kalamkas Botabekova,\r\naZhemkorlyksyz Kazakhstan journalist , \r\nguilty of organizing an illegal rally. According to the administrative\r\nprotocol, on January 4, at about 5 PM, , she was broadcasting live on Facebook\r\nnear the Alkhan Ata store in Turkestan and called on local residents to go to\r\nthe rally.
\r\nOn January 12 Nurzhan Baimuldin, the\r\nchief editor of the Russian news service \"Kokshetau-Asia\" was arrested for 10 days. The questions that he asked the\r\npresident of the country on the social network were considered actions\r\nprovoking a violation of law and order in a state of emergency.
\r\nOn January 20 Olesya\r\nVertinskaya, Road Control website\r\nreporter, was able to prove in court that she covered the rally on the square\r\nin Atyrau on January 5 , and did not participate in it.
\r\nThe following charges were filed in connection with\r\nthe exercise of the right to freedom of expression in January 2022:
\r\n- 3 criminal charges (none in court)
\r\n- 8 administrative offence charges, including 7\r\nrelated to the January rallies (7 of them in court)
\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
