89% of the verdicts in libel cases are acquittals

Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan provided interesting statistics of criminal cases on libel charges to Adil Soz.

There were 1,314 court processes on slander charges for the two previous years, in which about 2000 people were involved for what they said. According to the verdicts, 93 people were found guilty in libel. The other were either acquitted, or even avoided the conviction after the cases were ceased. The Committee for Legal Statistics does not take into account the threats to charge for libel that journalists often hear.

By the way, the number of civil litigations for protection of honor and dignity is many times as large. So, maybe various human rights committees, including UN committee, are right when they strongly recommend Kazakhstan to decriminalize defamation?

And one more question: do 516 cases of libel constitute those tenth and hundredths of one percent in the general statistics of acquittals?

Translation of the Committee for Legal Statistics’s letter

To the International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech

Adil Soz

Almaty

79 Kaldayakov, str. office 407

The Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the General Prosecutor's Office (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) informs you that, according to available information, for the period from 2016-2017 courts of the Republic of Kazakhstan considered 580 criminal cases (in 2016 - 272, in 2017 - 308) under art. 130 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Article 129 of the Criminal Code of the RK in the edition of 1997). 93 persons were convicted (in 2016 - 38, in 2017 - 55); 733 persons were acquitted (in 2016 - 346, in 2017 - 387); 734 criminal cases were ceased (in 2016 -326, in 2017-408) against 1126 persons (in 2016 - 460. in 2017 - 666), of which 516 criminal cases were ceased on rehabilitating grounds.

(for 2016-221, for 2017 -295), against 833 persons (for the year 2016 -307, for the 20-year-526).

At the same time, we inform you that information from the statistical reports is placed on the website of the information service of the Committee at: qamqor.gov.kz. Information for each reporting period (month, year) is to be viewed separately from the tab "Statistical reports".

Deputy Chairman R. Alkenev