Violations of freedom of speech in Kazakhstan October 2023

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 October 2023.

On October 31, another meeting of the «Dialogue Platform on Human Dimension» Consultative Advisory Board at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan was dedicated to access to information and electoral legislation. At this meeting, participants discussed the right to information, transparency in government agencies, and the protection of privacy, as well as reforms in electoral legislation and procedures considering the recent presidential and parliamentary elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

From January to October 2023, journalists encountered several problems in accessing socially significant information. A total of 172 cases were recorded in which there was a failure to provide information, violation of deadlines for its provision, or restriction of access to it. This figure is almost unchanged from the figure for a similar period in 2022, which stood at 177 cases.

In many cases (89.5%), restrictions on access to information originated from representatives of state, law enforcement agencies, and organizations, as well as state-affiliated institutions (154 cases during the period of 2023).

For situations in which the media encountered difficulties in obtaining information in October, please refer to the section «Refusals, restrictions, and violations of deadlines for providing information».

Also in October:

- On October 6, the Ministry of Culture and Information held a briefing at the Central Communications Service, where Minister Aida Balayeva answered questions about the draft law «On Mass Media».

- About the necessity of developing a law «On Mass Media». The development of a new law became necessary because the media law of 1999 has become morally outdated - over more than 20 years, the information landscape has completely changed. Significant attention is paid to updating the conceptual apparatus in accordance with changes in the media space and international experience.
- On the introduction of press cards. Aida Balayeva noted: This norm is aimed at facilitating the work of journalists and does not pursue any other goals. «Currently, these norms are being discussed in the working group, and I assume that we can keep the existing accreditation norm and additionally introduce press cards, so they can coexist simultaneously. Therefore, this norm is under discussion», explained the minister.
- On journalists' proposals to shorten the statute of limitations to one year (currently, a three-year statute of limitations is proposed). The minister supports this proposal: «We are talking about three years, however, I, as the minister, support you (journalists) and propose a one-year period».

Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva suggested holding a separate meeting to explain the novelties of the draft law after the working group of the Majilis completes its work.
 

-  The court of administrative offences of Shakhtinsk did not find evidence of an administrative offense in the case of the attack on Diana Saparkyzy, a correspondent of the «KazTAG» news agency.

The journalist was attacked on August 18 while covering the aftermath of a fire at the «Kazakhstanskaya» mine owned by ArcelorMittal Temirtau company. During the filming, security guards from ArcelorMittal Temirtau attacked her, confiscated her phone, and deleted the recorded material.
Diana Saparkyzy filed a complaint with the police. The police in the city of Shakhtinsk initiated an investigation under two articles: intentional infliction of slight damage to health and interfering with legal professional activity of journalist with the use of force or threat.
On August 20, the police only drew up a protocol on an administrative offense against one security guard, Boris Tirkhin, under part 1 of Article 73-1 of the Administrative Code (Intentional infliction of slight damage to health). The police did not identify any other perpetrators of the incident, despite Tirkhin's statement that «We escorted her out of the protected area».
On October 27, the Specialized Court for Administrative Offenses of the city of Shakhtinsk in the Karaganda region considered the case of causing minor bodily harm to the correspondent of the «KazTAG» news agency, Diana Saparkyzy.
«We learned about this court hearing the day before. We did not expect such a turn of events because previously we only asked the court to suspend this case until the criminal case is completed», said Diana's lawyer Shirin Amirgalieva to Azattyk.
During the court session, Boris Tirkhin did not admit his guilt in causing minor bodily harm. On October 27, Judge E. Ushbayev terminated the proceedings against Tirkhin due to the absence of elements of administrative offense. The court found Tirkhin's arguments valid that he did not inflict bodily harm on Diana Saparkyzy, as these arguments were supported by video recordings, as stated in the court decision.
The journalist and her lawyer fear that the termination of the administrative case may lead to the closure of the criminal investigation into obstructing the legal professional activities of a journalist. Security guard Boris Tirkhin is currently only considered a witness in the case.
The investigation into Diana's complaint about obstructing her legal professional activities is still ongoing. Previously, in an open letter to the Prosecutor General, the International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech «Adil Soz» drew attention to Article 742 of the Administrative Code, according to which proceedings on an administrative offense should be terminated if there are signs of a criminal offense punishable under criminal law.

«Adil Soz» considers the court decision unlawful.

«At first, the court suspended the proceedings on the administrative offense, but then, since the investigation within the criminal case intentionally did not assign the status of a suspect to the guard for a long time, the proceedings in court on the administrative offense of the guard were resumed. The court concluded in the decision that the guard's guilt supposedly was not proven, and therefore, he supposedly did not apply violence to the journalist and did not cause her harm. The court naturally did not inquire about the bruises on the journalist at the same time. If the aforementioned court decision on administrative offenses becomes legally binding, the criminal case may be finally closed tomorrow based on it», according to the foundation's comment.

- An unknown man tried to enter the home of Timur Yermashev, a correspondent for «Nastoyashchee Vremya» (Current Time). 

On October 17, an unknown man tried to enter the home of Timur Yermashev, a correspondent for «Nastoyashchee Vremya» (Current Time). Initially, he knocked loudly and persistently. When the journalist opened the door, the man immediately tried to enter, behaving very aggressively. The journalist pushed him out, and in the process, the man broke the door handle.
In a comment to «Adil Soz» correspondents, Timur Yermashev emphasized that he cannot assert with absolute certainty that this incident is directly related to his professional activities. However, considering that the unknown man was heading specifically to his apartment, he has no other logical assumptions. The journalist also emphasized that he hasn't crossed anyone's path but works for a television channel that allows criticism of the authorities.

Timur Yermashev filed a statement with the police.

Mikhail Kozachkov's Telegram channel, «Kozachkov offside» has been under attack since the night of October 2. 

The journalist noticed a strange increase in the number of subscribers. By the morning of October 3, the number of subscribers had reached 138 thousand people, and it continued to grow. The journalist speculated that this could be related to bots, perhaps someone launched them to block the channel. Comments on the Telegram channel were forcibly disabled, and a bot was launched to remove bots.
On October 17, the journalist reported intensified cyberattacks against him. As of October 16, more than 300 thousand accounts were on the channel's blacklist, and there were more than 200 thousand bots on the chat's blacklist. In addition, subscribers of the Telegram channel began receiving messages with offensive and provocative content.
According to Mikhail, he received a message in his direct messages that there is a certain customer who hired hackers for money, whose task is to destroy his channel.
On October 25, Mikhail Kozachkov reported that the bot attack had subsided. The journalist and his assistants managed to stop the wave of attacks on his channel «Kozachkov offside» and in the chat.
However, Kozachkov's subscribers reported another distribution of pornographic videos. Mikhail Kozachkov advises complaining about accounts that distribute pornography so that Telegram can block them.

In October 2023, a total of 40 reports of incidents related to the professional activities of the media and journalists, the receipt and dissemination of information were registered (excluding reports related to ongoing cases):
- 7 reports were related to violations of journalists' rights.
-24 reports concerned the right to access and disseminate information.
-9 cases of presentation of judicial and pre-trial claims to journalists and editorial offices in connection with publications.

In October 2023, in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, the following have been filed:
- 1 criminal charge (including judicial – 0).
- 5 pre-judicial claims and civil lawsuits (including 5 related to protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation).
- 3 administrative charges.
 

Since the beginning of the year, in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, the following have been filed:
- 9 criminal charges (including 3 in court). 
- 52 civil claims and lawsuits (including 43 for the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation). The claimed amounts of compensation for moral damage in cases of honor and dignity protection amount to 24,750,000 tenge. The courts recovered 600,000 tenge.
- 22 administrative charges, including 11 for defamation and 1 for spreading fake information (Article 456-2 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offences). 
 

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