Court rulings in the case of the banner are not based on the law

Three public organizations - the Charter for Human Rights, the International Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech “Adil soz” and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law applied to the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Asanov and the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Kazakhstan, G. NURDAULETOV.

The statement says: “On April 21 a group of citizens put up posters during a marathon in Almaty and was detained. The posters said “THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TRUTH”, #FOR FAIR ELECTIONS, #ADILSAILAYUSHIN”. On the same day, civilic activists Asiya Tulesova and Beybarys Tolymbekov were sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest under paragraph 3 of article 468 of the Administrative Code for violating the procedure for organizing peaceful meetings, rallies, marches, demonstrations. In the evening of April 21 , the appeals instance of the Almaty City Court upheld the rulings of the court of first instance. On April 22, civic activists Suyinbike Suleimenova, Aigul Nurbolatova and Aidos Nurbolatov were convicted under the same article of the Administrative Code. According to police report "they also held a banner".

"We believe that the detentions and court rulings on this incident do not correspond to the real facts and are not based on the law:

1. Placement of banners is not an action prohibited by Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the Procedure for Organizing and Holding Peaceful Meetings, Rallies, Processions, Pickets and Demonstrations in the Republic of Kazakhstan”.

2. The content of the banner that  outraged  the police officers does not contain illegal, unreliable or even negative information.

Police claims that:

a) “People who wanted to take pictures of them began to run out onto the roadway, thereby creating obstacles to the movement of the marathon runners” . It cannot be considered to be true, since it contradicts the video of the marathon race

b) “there could be a crush and panic, with deplorable consequences”. It cannot be considered evidence of an offense, since these are nothing more than groundless assumptions;

c) “the offenders showed  obvious disrespect for the participants of the marathon". It cannot be considered in court, as it falls into the category of value judgments.

We believe that by putting up the banner “There is no escape from the truth. # For fair elections. # We have a choice” young civiс activists expressed support for the statement of acting President K.Tokayev, who said:“ I guarantee that the elections will be held honestly, openly, fairly! ” At the same time, court rulings against A. Tulesova, B. Tolymbekov, S. Suleimenova, A. Nurbolatova and A. Nurbolatov raised doubts in the society in the triumph of law and caused the fear of increase of repressive measures for expressing one’s opinion.

We hope that the rule of law and the voice of reason will prevail, the civiс activists will be freed from undeserved punishment, and the actions of officials guilty of their unlawful detention and conviction will be duly evaluated. ”