Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan June 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 June 2022.

Itreports:

- On June\r\n5, a referendum on amendments to the Constitution of the country was held in\r\nKazakhstan. Journalists faced violations while covering the voting process.

On the day\r\nof the referendum, 8 facts of interfering to the professional activities of\r\njournalists and the media were recorded:

- Radio\r\nAzattyk team could not get to polling station No. 59 in Nur-Sultan, where the\r\nhead of state was supposed to vote. Police officers and representatives of the\r\npresidential security service told RFE/RL that they were \"not on the\r\nlist.\" Besides Channel 7 and the Ulysmedia news website reporters were\r\nalso not allowed to enter this polling station.

- Gert\r\nMurataliev, the chairman of precinct election commission No. 257 in Almaty,\r\nbanned journalists from making video inside the polling station, despite of the\r\nfact that they had  accreditation and\r\neditorial assignments.

- In\r\nShymkent, RFE/RL  reporter was able to\r\nget to the polling station only after the chairman of the city\'s territorial\r\nelection commission interfered into the situation. The reporter  spent about an hour outside the precinct.

- In the\r\nvillage of Talapker, Aqmola region , Sakypzhamal Slambekova, the chairman of\r\nthe precinct election commission No. 685, forbade RFE/RL reporter Saniyash\r\nToiken and videographer Kenzhetai Akseytov, who arrived at the polling station\r\naround noon to cover the voting process,  to make video and demanded that they left the precinct.

- The\r\nchairman of polling station No. 2 in Almaty, where ballot stuffing was\r\nallegedly recorded, forbade the Orda.kz journalist to take pictures inside the\r\npolling station. Later she did not allow her to talk to observers.

- By the\r\nend of the voting day at polling station 142 in Nur-Sultan, one of the\r\nobservers tried to either pull out the camera of RFE/RL reporter or to cover\r\nthe device with her hands (an attempt to interfere with journalist’s activity\r\nwas recorded live). She demanded not to take video of the observers.

¬ Andrey\r\nSkiba, Nasha Gazeta reporter, faced interfering to his work by members of\r\nprecinct election commission at the polling station No. 20 in Kostanai. They demanded\r\nthat the journalist sit still and not take photos and videos. The journalist\r\nwas allowed to take video the commission counting  votes from a distance of about 10 meters.

Askar Umarov, the\r\nMinister of Information and Social Development, gave three reasons of media\r\ncriticism of the government regarding provision of information.

Government\r\nagencies are criticized for providing incomplete information, the lack of\r\ndetailed and complete information when responding  to official requests from individuals and\r\nlegal entities, including the media, and providing  underqualified speakers to clarify issues raised\r\nby media.

- Kazakhstan has been\r\ndowngraded in the CIVICUS rating due to \"deterioration of civil\r\nliberties\" from \"obstructive\" to \"repressive\".

«Kazakhstan\r\nhas been downgraded to ‘repressed’ due to widespread violations of the  freedoms of\r\npeaceful assembly, association and expression  during the ‘Bloody January’\r\nprotests and in their aftermath\", the ranking\'s description reads.

The\r\nrepressive rating is the second worst the country could receive, it indicates\r\nthat basic civil liberties, including freedom of expression, association and\r\nassembly, are severely restricted.

- The Ministry of Information and Social\r\nDevelopment (MISD) begun\r\ndeveloping the new media law. It should be submitted to Parliament by the end\r\nof this year.

On June 15,\r\nNur-Sultan hosted the first meeting of the working group on the new media law.

Tamara\r\nKaleyeva, President of the International Foundation for  Protection of Freedom of Speech \"Adil\r\nSoz\" and member of the working group, told :

“MISD\r\nspecialists read out their proposals. There are \"carrots\" for the\r\nmedia - reduction of statute on limitations on claims on protection of honor and dignity,\r\nadvertising of non-alcoholic beer.

There are\r\nproposals for registering bloggers and even funding them (of course, not all of\r\nthem, but the most useful ones). They proposed to classify news agencies as\r\nonline media, and to re-register all media according to the new rules.

In general,\r\nthere are many randomly presented proposals. What gives rise the concerns: the\r\nministry wants to add one more thing to its immense powers: it wants to create\r\nthe Commission on Ethics in its depths. The Commission will consider complaints\r\nand, if it deems it necessary, recall accreditation. A new not duly described accreditation\r\nis meant. Perhaps it means accreditation for the entire activity of a\r\njournalist. The officials tempt that an accredited journalist will be entitled\r\nto a preferential mortgage loan, free access to cultural events. The ministry\r\ndid not explain the consequences of the accreditation recall and whether it would mean blacklisting of a\r\njournalist. 

It is not\r\nknown how MISD is going to call the new bill, what chapters and sections it\r\nwill include. The working group consists of 65 people that heard about MISD\r\nproposals for the first time and, of course, did not have time to analyze them.

On June 16,\r\nMISD created a WhatsApp chat for members of the working group and posted the\r\nproposals there.

- Fake websites of\r\nfour Kazakh media appeared on the Internet.

Journalist\r\nAsem Zhapisheva reported that unknown people had copied the websites Ratel.kz,\r\nNur.kz, InBusiness.kz and NewTimes.kz. The fakes have the same design as the\r\nreal websites, most of the articles are also the same, although they have not\r\nbeen updated for a day, and the domain names differ by only one letter.

All four fake\r\nwebsites are registered to a certain Vladimir Korablev,  Belgorod region, the city of Belgorod, for\r\nsome reason indicated as Ukraine, and not Russia. At the same time, the phone\r\nnumber is Russian.

After the\r\nfake sites became known, the head of hoster.kz Denis Sukhachev cut off the\r\nfakes.

The\r\nMinister of Digital Development Bagdat Musin advised domain owners to apply to\r\nthe Intellectual Property Committee and to the court. After that, the minister\r\nsaid, the department would \"carry out appropriate work with domain\r\nregistrars.\"

“State\r\nbodies have the right to block a website in case it breaks a law. Therefore,\r\nthis issue is regulated by law, intellectual property, copyright,” B. Musin\r\nsaid.

The following charges\r\nwere filed in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of\r\nexpression in June\r\n2022:

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

- 4 civil claims and\r\nlawsuits (all of them for protection of honor, dignity and business\r\nreputation).

- 2 administrative\r\ncharges

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

- 13 criminal charges\r\n(5 in court).

- 18 claims and suits\r\nin civil procedure (11 of them for protection of honor, dignity and business\r\nreputation).

Claims for compensation\r\nfor non-pecuniary damage amounted to 8 million 950 thousand  tenge. The courts collected 500 thousand\r\ntenge.

- 15 administrative charges,\r\nincluding 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