Where to move libel?
On January 7, Adil Soz sent an open letter to the President of the country, the chairmen of the Mazhilis and the Senate of the Parliament, to the Prosecutor General, about the decriminalization of libel. While supporting the decision itself, we believe that the responsibility for deliberate defamation should be civil rather than administrative one (see http://www.adilsoz.kz/news/show/id/3111 ).
The Majilis and the General Prosecutor's Office reacted to it with palmary promptness. The legislative authorities praised us and promised to take it into account (http://www.adilsoz.kz//upload/2801.pdf).
The Prosecutor General’s Office, that has been standing up for maintaining slander in the criminal code for all the previous years, has given a more qualified answer that is available in Russian here (http://www.adilsoz.kz//upload/280101.pdf). Are we right feeling that the rulemakers have decided long ago that private disputes should be resolved, if not criminally, then at least in administrative order in orer to remain under the state bodies' control?