Defamation Bill: being impossible to improve it shoud be to recalled

Having studied the draft law “On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of Responsibility for Defamation,” the International Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech Adil Soz addressed the President with an open letter:

“Dear Kasym-Zhomart Kemelevich!

The journalistic community of Kazakhstan was inspired by your decision to decriminalize libel. This decision meets the international obligations of our country and the long-standing expectations of civil society.

However, the draft law “On introducing amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Kazakhstan on issues of liability for defamation” proposed by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in fact, proposes more severe measures instead of decriminalizing that actually infringe on the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech.

As it is stipulated by the law, dignity is a self-esteem by a person of his own qualities, honor is a public assessment of a person, a measure of his spiritual and social qualities, in individual perception  of a person. Thus, tarnishing the honor and dignity of a person is a purely individual concept.

Presently both criminal and civil proceedings for the protection of such subjective categories as honor and dignity are carried only at the request of the victim or a someone who  considers himself/herself to be a victim; the one who is found guilty compensates the victim the non-pecuniary damage by decision of the judge. The bill makes this type of offense private-public, introduces administrative protocols and provides internal affairs bodies with the right to draw up such protocols. The bill suggests very heavy fines, but does not provide for any compensation for non-pecuniary damage to the victim. It is proposed  without any reason to apply measures of state coercion to private disputes, though such administrative mesures include detention, reconduction , etc.

We believe that the resolution of private disputes on the protection of honor and dignity cannot be carried administratively using measures of state coercion. We ask you to entrust the development of the bill on the decriminalization of libel to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan in order to include this type of offense in the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

If you agree with our position, sign HERE