Violations of Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan May 2023

The International Foundation for Freedom of Speech "Adil Soz" presents an overview of events reflecting the situation in Kazakhstan regarding freedom of expression, access, and dissemination of information in May 2023.

In May, 47 incidents related to freedom of speech and information dissemination were registered. Among them, 13 concern violations of journalists' and media rights, including detentions, threats, obstruction of journalists' professional activities, and more.

There were 8 documented cases of allegations against journalists, bloggers, and media related to published materials. In this month, all claims were brought in a civil manner.

26 incidents revolve around the right to access and disseminate information, out of which 22 involve denials, restrictions, and violations of deadlines for providing socially significant information.

In May, there was a decrease in recorded cases of violations of journalists' rights (13 compared to 14 in April) and claims related to published materials (8 compared to 10 in April). However, there was an increase in the number of incidents in the category of the right to access and disseminate information (26 compared to 25).

Among the events in May:

• WHO officially announced the end of the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, officially announced the end of the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. This information was reported on the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan's website.

"Yesterday, the emergency committee held its 15th meeting and recommended that I declare the end of the state of emergency in public health that has caused international concern. I agreed with this recommendation," said the WHO Director-General during a briefing in Geneva.

On January 30, 2020, WHO declared a state of emergency due to the spread of the coronavirus worldwide. On March 11, 2020, the pandemic was announced.

On March 16, 2020, a state of emergency was declared in Kazakhstan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it was lifted on May 11, 2020, quarantine-related restrictions remained in the country and were fully lifted only in May 2022.

• The draft law "On Amendments to the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offenses Regarding Online Platforms and Online Advertising" is being considered in the Majilis. An additional article is proposed, stipulating liability for "posting and distributing false information."

According to the article, posting and disseminating false information through mass media, internet resources, open data internet portals, or other means provided by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan leads to imposing fines on violators.

• On the night of May 10-11, in Atyrau, unknown people set fire to the car of the "Kazinform" correspondent Viktor Sutyagin.

The burning vehicle was discovered by a police patrol crew of the Atyrau Police Department at 4:21 AM. According to the surveillance camera recordings, an unidentified man set the car on fire around half past two in the morning. The journalist himself learned about the incident when his car was already completely burnt out.
The police did not find any traces of an explosion at the scene.

Viktor Sutyagin speculates that this incident might be related to his professional activities but does not suspect anyone specifically.
The journalist's statement has been registered in the police database under the article "Intentional destruction or damage to another person's property."

On May 14, the Atyrau Regional Police Department reported the identification and detention of a suspect in connection with the arson. The police have not disclosed the suspect's identity.

On May 1, Vlast.kz reporter Beimbet Moldagali was detained in Nur-Sultan at the site of a presumed rally. The journalist presented his press credentials to the police, however, he was taken to the Sarayarka District Police Department. Beimbet was prohibited from informing the editorial office about the situation, and the police attempted to take his phone. At the police station, the journalist's photograph was taken, and his fingerprints were collected. After half an hour, the journalist was released without explaining the reason for the detention.

• The appellate court overturned the provision regarding the public apologies to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the "Exclusive" editorial office.

On May 17, the appellate collegium of the Astana city court made a decision: "Exclusive" doesn’t have to apologize to the plaintiffs.
"The court's decision remains unchanged. The demand to bring an apology in the form of video messages on specified channels is excluded from the court ruling. The appeals of the plaintiffs and defendants are partially satisfied," the resolution states.

As it was reported, LLP "Publishing house "Exclusive" (Astana) was named as a co-defendant in a claim regarding the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation related to certain articles about an inheritance. The protagonist of the articles informed reporters that his adversaries were linked to the organized crime group of Wild Arman. This statement led to the lawsuit.

The court ordered three defendants, including the "Exclusive", to refute the published information, pay 200,000 tenge jointly to each of the three plaintiffs, compensate for the expenses on representatives in court (920,000 tenge in total), and issue an apology to the plaintiffs in the form of video messages.

On April 22, the "Adil soz" Foundation published a legal review of this situation, in which it emphasized that "the demand to compel the defendant to publicly apologize cannot be reviewed by the court because such a method of protecting civil rights is not provided for by law."

• In Uralsk, the court rejected the compensation claims of the "VK-Media Publishing Group" (Russia) against the "Uralskaya Nedelya" editorial office in a lawsuit concerning the protection of copyright. The Economic court in Western Kazakhstan region has made a decision to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Russian LLC "Izdatelskaya VK-media group" against the owner of the Kazakh newspaper "Uralskaya nedelya" regarding the recovery of compensation for the usage of a photo as an object of copyright rights.

This particular Russian company has been making similar claims against various Kazakh media outlets for some time, alleging that their employee is the author of photos taken and posted on the internet more than 10 years ago. Despite the fact that the price for using similar photos from official Russian photo banks such as Lori.ru, Photogenica.ru, Pressfoto.ru, etc., is around 200 rubles (slightly over 1000 tenge), the plaintiff is seeking compensation from Kazakh media outlets that is 300-400 times higher.
In accordance with Article 8 of the Civil Code, nobody is entitled to benefit from their dishonest conduct, which is why the court may reject the person's claim to protect their rights.

The International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech"Adil soz" that provided legal support to the owner of the newspaper "Uralskaya nedelya", expresses sincere gratitude to the Kazakh judiciary for making a fair decision in defending freedom of speech against dishonest claims from foreign companies."

The monitoring is prepared based on reports of the "Adil Soz" Foundation reporters and information from open sources.
Head of the "Adil Soz" Foundation Monitoring Department Elena Tsoy
e-mail: lena@adilsoz.kz

For all monitoring-related inquiries, you can also contact info@adilsoz.kz