4vlastinfo editor-in-chief appeals to President Tokayev over alleged harassment

Madina Zhatkanbayeva, editor-in-chief of the 4vlastinfo news portal, says she has faced pressure following the publication of an investigative report on the use of public funds in the Turkestan Region. According to her, two lawsuits have been filed against her, while police have drawn up an administrative offence report whose legality she is challenging.

In an appeal to Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Prosecutor General Berik Asylov and Chairman of the National Security Committee Yermek Sagimbayev, published on the outlet’s Instagram page, Zhatkanbayeva said the dispute began after the release on 23 July 2026 of a video report about the activities of the Turkestan Social and Entrepreneurial Corporation JSC.

The report raised questions about the use of public funds and the transfer of 5 billion tenge to Türkiye. The journalist claims that after the publication, Aslanbek Isakhov, Deputy Chairman of the corporation’s Management Board, who had previously given her an interview, filed a lawsuit seeking the removal of the video report. According to Zhatkanbayeva, the corporation itself filed a similar lawsuit.

In her appeal to the President, Zhatkanbayeva said that the administrative offence report drawn up against her under the provision establishing liability for defamation committed publicly or through mass media and telecommunications networks — Part 2 of Article 73-3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Kazakhstan — had been backdated, that the expert examination had been conducted with procedural violations, and that the signature on the report was not hers. She is asking the country’s leadership and law enforcement authorities to investigate what happened and assess the actions of the police officers involved.

The International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech “Adil Soz” stresses the need for an objective examination of the circumstances described by the journalist. Administrative procedures must not become a tool for exerting pressure on the media over the publication of information of public interest.

The Foundation believes it is necessary to verify the legality of the administrative offence report, the circumstances in which the expert examination was conducted, and the authenticity of the signature. At the same time, reporting on the use of public funds and the activities of state-owned or state-affiliated organisations is clearly a matter of public interest, and journalists should be able to investigate such issues without unjustified interference in their professional activities.