The judge will no longer violate the rights of journalists

It  took a month and a half for the deputy chairman of the Guild of Court Reporters Serikzhan Mauletbay to receive the response from the Specialized Interdistrict Economic Court of Almaty. The answer came by e-mail on August 28 and represented a scanned document dated August 8.

The complaint to the court was sent on July 13. On that day there were court hearings  on the lawsuit  of LLP "Special Financial Company DSFK (DSFK)" to JSC "Alma Telecommunications Kazakhstan" (Alma TV trademark) on protection of business reputation. The long-awaited answer signed by the Chairman of the court E. Bekbaev said:

"The conducted inspection showed that a representative of the NGO Guild of Court Reporters, as well as a representative of the International Foundation for Protection of hte  Freedom of Speech" Adil soz" were present at the hearing on the above civil case on July 13, 2018,  at 3.20 PM ".

However, Judge A. Ashimhanova. did not allow journalists to be present at the open the court hearing saying that the journalists had to submit a written application for participation in the court hearings.

According to Part 7 of Article 19 of the Civil Procedural Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the persons participating in the case and other persons, including representatives of the mass media have the right to be present at an open hearing, have the right to take notes during the court session, make recordings by audio and digital carriers from the places they occupy in the court room. Making photos ad video, direct radio and television broadcasting, online internet broadcasting are allowed in the courtroom with the permission of the court and taking into account the opinions of the persons participating in the hearings. This is indicated in the ruling of the court, included in the records of the court hearings. These actions should not interfere with the normal course of the court hearings and the time of such actions may be limited by the court.

Thus, indeed, Judge Ashimhanova A.R. violated the norms of the Civil Procedural Code of  the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Based on the results of the inspection, this fact was considered at the meeting of judges, where Judge A. Ashimhanova it is strictly warned of avoidance of such violations in future. "