Violations of freedom of speech in Kazakhstan January 2024
The International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech «Adil Soz» presents an overview of events reflecting the situation in Kazakhstan with freedom of expression, receipt, and dissemination of information in January 2024.
In January, DDoS attacks on websites were reported by the KazTAG news agency, the Rudny edition «Horoshee delo» and the creators of a project for LGBTQ+ teenagers. The youtube channel «Obozhayu», the Instagram public and Telegram channel «Protenge», and the Instagram account of journalist Nazymgul Kumyspayeva were attacked by bots. Askhat Niyazov, the author of the «Obozhayu», project, also received mass calls from numbers registered abroad.
Askhat Niyazov and Nazymgul Kumyspayeva, journalists of the «Obozhayu» project, reported about the hacking of their accounts in social networks. In January, the Instagram account of the situational center «Aikomek» was also hacked.
In connection with the alarming situation with cyberattacks on the media, the «Adil Soz» Foundation issued a statement «Cyberattacks on the Media: A National Security Matter», and the affected journalists sent a collective appeal to the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Also in January:
LEGISLATIVE CHANGES
Starting from January 1, 2024, the «Rules for Designating Information as Restricted Access Official Information and Working with It» came into effect, approved by the Government's resolution on June 24, 2022.
«The latest changes to the «Rules for Designating Information as Restricted Access Official Information» that we found were published in January 2023. There is a comparative table of «before» and «after» spanning just five pages, primarily focusing on information security»" reports the telegram channel «Shishkin_like».
According to the recent amendments, the «FIU» classification for a period of five years is now applied to «Documents (information) about mass media outlets that have been granted a state information order with thematic distribution, excluding contracts for fulfilling the state information order».
On January 25, during a session in the Mazhilis of the Parliament, deputies Nikita Shatalov and Anas Bakkozhaev proposed a series of amendments to the draft law «On Mass Media», which raised concerns among some members of the working group from civil society. Specifically, the proposal suggested merging online publications and news agencies into a single concept called «Internet publications», which, in their opinion, would exclude Information Agencies as a type of media from Kazakhstan's legislation.
«The amendments initiated by the deputies aim to merge the concepts of «online publication» and «news agency» into a single concept of «Internet publication». The authorized body supported these amendments, as they do not in any way affect the activities of news agencies and online publications and do not create obstacles or deteriorations for the information sphere but are aimed at organizing the system of legal forms of existing media outlets», said the editorial team of the KazTAG news agency, citing the Ministry of Culture and Information.
On January 25th, Mazhilis member Nikita Shatalov commented on the proposed amendments to the draft law «On Mass Media» in his Telegram channel. He clarified that some claims about banning the activities of foreign media without accreditation are inaccurate since the relevant provisions are already included in the accreditation rules, and the amendments only elevate their status to the level of law. The new norm relates to the threat to national security, which may be grounds for refusal of accreditation, and this concept is defined in the law «On National Security». The new norm is intended to be applied only to media outlets that advocate for the violation of the constitutional order and threaten national security. At the same time, foreign media outlets have the right to appeal decisions on accreditation refusal. The deputy noted that the amendments are aimed at protecting the Kazakhstani information space from falsehoods and manipulations.
Obstruction of legal professional activity
On January 23, the prosecutor's office of the Karaganda region overturned the decision of the police department of Shakhtinsk to terminate the pre-trial investigation into the case of obstructing the legal professional activity of journalist Diana Saparkyzy.
Recall that on August 18, security guards from the Kazakhstanskaya mine of the company ArcelorMittal Temirtau - B. Tirkyn and E. Zhanshin attacked the correspondent of the KazTAG news agency Diana Saparkyzy while the filming what was happening at the mine. One of the men took the journalist's phone and deleted the files, while the other held her back.
Initially, the Shakhtinsk city police drew up only a protocol on administrative offense against B. Tirkyn under Article 73-1 of the Administrative Code (Intentional infliction of slight damage to health). Later, a criminal investigation was initiated under Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Interfering with legal professional activity of journalist). On October 27, the administrative investigation was terminated, and on November 8, the criminal investigation was also terminated. Saparkyzy's lawyer appealed the decision to terminate the criminal investigation to the prosecutor's office of the Karaganda region.
On January 23, Shirin Amirgalieva received a response from the deputy prosecutor of the Karaganda region, E. Dzhubanov, stating that the case has been referred for additional investigation.
In connection with this, the «Adil Soz» Foundation issued a statement expressing hope that this decision could change the existing negative trend and contribute to the effective enforcement of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
DENIAL OF ACCREDITATION
The editorial board of «Radio Azattyk» reported that over the past few years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan has not issued or renewed accreditation for 36 correspondents of Radio Azattyk — the Kazakh service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Among them are journalists whose accreditation has not been renewed since 2022. According to Azattyk's information, the Ministry did not provide a legal justification for the refusal within the time frame prescribed by law.
In September and October 2023, Azattyk requested accreditation for more than thirty employees but did not receive a substantive response. As part of an administrative case, an agreement on dispute resolution through judicial mediation was reached in the Astana court. According to its terms, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan was supposed to provide a new response by December 27, 2023. However, the response was only received on January 3, 2024. In it, the Ministry informed about the refusal to accredit the correspondents of the publication. The Ministry cited as grounds for the refusal the fact that journalists continued to work without accreditation and the fact that in November 2023, a court fined the representation of RFE/RL in Kazakhstan for disseminating false information.
On January 30, RFE/RL-Kazakhstan filed a lawsuit demanding the recognition of the Ministry's decision as unlawful and its cancellation since accreditation requests were submitted in advance, and the department did not provide responses within the specified deadlines
Court Cases
A Kazakhstan media outlet was forced to publish a rebuttal twice under a lawsuit for protection of honour and dignity.
According to a court ruling on a lawsuit for protection of honour, dignity and business reputation, two Kazakhstan publications and the hero of the publication, whose story was told by these media, had to publish a refutation.
Both publications published refutations. But the third defendant, the hero of the publication, had problems. The plaintiffs and the court executor considered that since he (who does not work in the media and has nothing to do with the media) did not publish a refutation, he did not fulfil the court's decision. And enforcement proceedings were initiated against citizen Sh. The situation was paradoxical: on the one hand, the refutation was published, but on the other hand, the bailiff demanded that the refutation be published again, now on behalf of the source of information.
As a result, the hero of the publication had to file a lawsuit, first against the bailiff and then against one of the media outlets, to get the refutation published in his own name.
The court in Astana dismissed the case, as the court decision should have been executed within the framework of the enforcement proceedings and not generate new disputes.
A court in Aktobe considered a case accusing two journalists of defamation.
The trial was initiated at the request of the director of a gymnasium in the Irgiz district of the Aktobe region. She believes that the editor of TilshiNews.kz Askar Aktleuov and the journalist of several publications Ardak Yerubaeva in their Instagram posts spread deliberately false information, linking the dismissal of the educational institution’s technician with complaints to the regional akim during his visit to the gymnasium.
Journalists did not agree with the accusations. They covered that working trip of the regional akim.
«I didn’t slander anyone. He told what happened and what he saw with his own eyes. I personally heard from the cleaning lady that there is no water in the school toilet and that she buys everything necessary to maintain cleanliness with her own money. I warned her that she might lose her job. Soon she was kicked out of work», said Askar Aktleuov.
On January 15, the Specialized Interdistrict Court for Administrative Offenses of Aktobe found the editor of TilshiNews.kz, Askar Aktleuov, not guilty of defamation. Administrative proceedings were terminated due to the absence of an administrative offense in the journalist’s actions.
The trial against Ardak Yerubaeva continues.
A court in Aktobe considered a case accusing two journalists of defamation.
The trial was initiated at the request of the director of a gymnasium in the Irgiz district of the Aktobe region. She believes that the editor of TilshiNews.kz Askar Aktleuov and the journalist of several publications Ardak Erubaeva in their Instagram posts spread deliberately false information, linking the dismissal of the educational institution’s technician with complaints to the regional akim during his visit to the gymnasium.
The journalists did not agree with the accusations. They covered that working trip of the regional akim.
«I did not slander anyone. I told what happened and what I saw with my own eyes. I personally heard from the cleaner that there is no water in the school toilet and that she uses her own money to buy everything necessary to keep it clean. I warned her that she could be out of work. Soon she was kicked out of her job», Askar Aktleuov said.
On 15 January, the Specialised Interdistrict Court on Administrative Offences of Aktobe found the editor of TilshiNews.kz Askar Aktleuov not guilty of libel, administrative proceedings were terminated for lack of corpus delicti in the actions of the journalist.
The trial against Ardak Yerubaeva continues.
The trial of a man, who set fire to the car of «Kazinform» correspondent Viktor Sutyagin, began in Atyrau
On the night of May 10-11, 2023, the car of Kazinform correspondent Viktor Sutyagin was burned in Atyrau. The burning car was discovered by the Atyrau Police Department auto patrol crew at 04.21 am. Judging by CCTV footage, an unidentified man set the car on fire at about half past two in the morning.
Viktor Sutyagin suggested that the arson may be related to his professional activities, but did not suspect anyone in particular.
On May 14, the Atyrau region police department announced the identification and detention of a suspect.
On January 10, the trial in this case began in a court in Atyrau. In the dock is a 37-year-old resident of Atyrau. He testified to the court that he was drunk at the time of the arson and did not know the journalist. According to him, he intended to scare his friend, who owed him money, but he mixed up the cars, and when the explosion occurred, he got scared and ran away.
Viktor Sutyagin does not believe in this version. He still believes that the arson of his car was someone’s order, and the Atyrau resident is simply his executor.
The monitoring was prepared according to reports to correspondents of the «Adil Soz» Foundation and information from open sources.
Head of the Monitoring Service of the «Adil Soz» Foundation - Elena Tsoy
Email: lena@adilsoz.kz
For all monitoring-related inquiries, you can also contact: info@adilsoz.kz
