Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan May 2022

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 May 2022.

Itreports:

- On May 5, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev,\r\nthe President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, signed a Decree on a national\r\nreferendum  to be conducted on June 5,\r\n2022  to vote  the draft Law “On Amendments and Additions to\r\nthe Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan”.

On May 6,\r\nthe Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Republic of Kazakhstan published a\r\nResolution “On Certain Issues of the Activities of Observers of Foreign States,\r\nInternational Organizations, Representatives of Foreign Mass Media at the\r\nNational Referendum Scheduled for June 5, 2022.” In accordance with the\r\ndocument, a  foreign media representative\r\nmay observe the referendum only if having accreditation certificate issued by\r\nthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The CEC\r\nDecree of May 6 “On the accreditation of media representatives at the national\r\nreferendum scheduled for June 5, 2022” provides for an algorithm for\r\naccrediting media representatives on the basis of the “Rules for the\r\nAccreditation of Journalists”, approved by order of the Minister of Culture and\r\nInformation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Accreditation\r\nof journalists to cover the referendum is carried out in accordance with\r\nparagraphs 6, 7, 8 of the Rules for the Accreditation of Journalists - On the\r\nprovision of temporary accreditation. In accordance with paragraph 6 of the\r\nRules, if an applicant is accredited, the accrediting organization notifies\r\nhim/her in writing or electronically about the accreditation. The Rules do not\r\nprovide notifying an applicant in case his/her accreditation application is\r\ndeclined.

- In the 2022 World\r\nPress Freedom Index, Kazakhstan improved its rating from 155 to 122. Human\r\nrights activists believe it was caused by worsening situation with press\r\nfreedom in other countries.

The\r\ninternational organization Reporters without Borders (RSF) has published the\r\n2022 World Press Freedom Index.

In the 2022\r\nranking, Norway ranked 1st scoring 92.65, and North Korea ranked 180th (the\r\nlast one) scoring 13.92.

In 2022\r\nKazakhstan  ranked 122 out of 180 scoring\r\n48.28 and was classified as a country with a difficult situation. The\r\ncountry  improved its position by 33\r\nlines in comparison with 2021.

Tamara\r\nKaleyeva, president of the International Foundation for Protection of Freedom\r\nof Speech Adil Soz, believes that Kazakhstan has improved its ranking in the\r\npress freedom index because \"the situation in other countries is even\r\nworse.\"

“It was a\r\nsurprise for me, we thought that it might improve its rating by 3-4 lines. We\r\npredicted this last year, since  slander\r\nhas been decriminalized, albeit to a limited extent. We are to do much work  to decriminalize insults. Nothing\r\nextraordinary happened  last year, no\r\nmedia were closed, journalists were not imprisoned. I think that it means that\r\nin other countries the situation is much worse, that\'s why Kazakhstan jumped\r\nthat high in the rating, ”Kaleyeva suggested at a press conference on Press\r\nFreedom Day on May 3.

- The Ministry of\r\nInformation and Social Development (MISD) approved the panel of the working\r\ngroup formed within fulfillment of the President\'s order to revise media\r\nlegislation.

 It included 65 people - representatives of the\r\nministry, non-governmental organizations, TV channels, print media, Internet\r\nresources, advertising agencies, and journalists. MISD received  proposals for including some more candidates  in the working group as well. It said that\r\nthe proposals  \"are considered, and,\r\nif necessary, these candidates will be invited to participate in the meetings\r\nof the working group.\"

Besides,\r\n\"all interested parties can send their proposals to\r\na.mukazhan@qogam.gov.kz or +77172744582 for consideration and discussion at the\r\nmeetings of the working groups,\" the message posted on the MISD website\r\nsays.

- Investigation\r\nresumed on the attack on journalists that took place in July 2019 in the press\r\nroom of the KIBHR.

As it was\r\nreported, on the morning of July 22, 2019, a press conference  about Oksana Shevchuk,  accused of being associated with the\r\nbanned  Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan\r\nwas to take place in the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights\r\n(KIBHR). The press-conference was disrupted by a group of aggressive women.

Five\r\nminutes before the beginning of the press conference, when media\r\nrepresentatives and speakers had already gathered in the press-room, more than\r\na dozen women suddenly burst in. They shouted, ripped out cameras from\r\ncameramen, cell phones from journalists and other participants, fought, tried\r\nto prevent them to make video. According to KIBHR journalist Andrei Sviridov,\r\nthe women behaved like professional provocateurs.

As a result\r\nof the pogrom, the camera of Radio Azattyk reporter was damaged, the camera\r\nof  Almaty TV channel reporter was also\r\ndamaged, the cell phones of journalists Sergei Duvanov and Margarita Khodus\r\nwere stolen, a smartphone and a camera were stolen from KazTAG news agency\r\nreporter.

The police\r\nofficers, who arrived half an hour after the call, did not prevent the three\r\nmost active violators from leaving the building. Only one of the attackers was\r\ndetained.

The police\r\ninitiated investigation under Article 389 of the Criminal Code of the Republic\r\nof Kazakhstan “Arbitrariness”.

Human\r\nrights activists and journalists insisted on initiating a criminal case under\r\nArt. 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan \"Interfering\r\nwith legal professional activity of journalist\", Art. 293 of the Criminal\r\nCode of the Republic of Kazakhstan \"Hooliganism\", under Art. 191 of\r\nthe Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan \"Robbery\".

In August\r\n2019, lawyer Inara Masanova, representing the interests of KIBHR journalists\r\nDmitry Tikhonov and Andrey Grishin, succeeded in changing the charges from\r\n“Arbitrariness” to “Robbery”. Her petition to charge the attackers in\r\naccordance with Art. 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan was\r\nrejected.

In July\r\n2020, the investigation was suspended, first for the period of COVID-19\r\nquarantine, and then \"due to the impossibility of identifying the person\r\nto be criminally liable.\"

– After the\r\ninvestigation of this criminal case was suspended “due to the impossibility of\r\nidentifying a person to be criminally liable”, I filed complaints with the\r\nAlmaty Police Department, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of\r\nKazakhstan and the Prosecutor General’s Office, in response I received only\r\nformal replies. The last time I applied to the prosecutor\'s office was two weeks\r\nago. After that they told me that  the\r\nprosecutor\'s office of the Auezov district resumed the investigation on May\r\n17,” Inara Masanova told the KIBHR.

On May 20,\r\njournalists Dmitry Tikhonov and Andrey Grishin were summoned to the district\r\npolice department of the Auezov district of Almaty police department  for questioning.

Vicitm\r\nDmitry Tikhonov and witness Andrey Grishin, who were interrogated in the Auezov\r\npolice station on May 20, say that the new investigator asked them almost the\r\nsame questions as his predecessor in 2019.

- RFE/RL reporter Ayan\r\nKalmurat was summoned for questioning by the Almaty prosecutor\'s office as a\r\nwitness in a criminal case on mass riots in January this year. Journalist Duman\r\nBykay told about being summoned for interrogation on the January events as\r\nwell.

On the\r\nevening of May 18, Radio Azattyk reporter Ayan Kalmurat was summoned for\r\nquestioning to the prosecutor\'s office of the city of Almaty as a witness in a\r\ncriminal case on mass riots that took place in Kazakhstan in early January\r\n2022. Investigator N. Akazhanov asked the journalist where he was and what he\r\nwas doing from January 2 to  January 6.\r\nThe reporter said that he was covering the riots in Almaty, including the\r\nevents on the Republic Square, and worked as a journalist. According to Ayan\r\nKalmurat, many questions were asked \r\nabout the opposition politician Zhanbolat Mamai. The\r\ninterrogation lasted for two hours.

Journalist\r\nDuman Bykai told about being summoned for interrogation to the Almaty police as\r\nwell. On May 25, he summoned as a witness in connection with the investigation\r\ninto the January riots.

The following charges\r\nwere filed in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of\r\nexpression in May 2022:

- 3 criminal charge (1\r\nin court)

- 3 civil claims and\r\nlawsuits (1 of them for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation).

The following charges\r\nwere filed since the beginning of the year:

- 13 criminal charges\r\n(3 in court).

- 14 claims and suits\r\nin civil procedure (7 of them for protection of honor, dignity and business\r\nreputation).

Claims for compensation\r\nfor non-pecuniary damage amounted to 7 million 450 thousand  tenge. The courts collected 500 thousand\r\ntenge.

- 13 administrative\r\ncharges, including 7 related to January riots

The monitoring is based\r\non the information of the Adil Soz Foundation\'s reporters and publicly\r\navailable information

Head of monitoring\r\nservice of Adil Soz Foundation

Elena Tsoi e-mail:\r\nlena@adilsoz.kz

For all monitoring\r\nquestions, you can also contact info@adilsoz.kz