Сөз бостандығын қорғау халықаралық қоры
Международный фонд защиты свободы слова
The International Foundation for Freedom of Speech Protection

Shall the courts be screened off?

21 october 2021

How do you like our MPs? Aidos Sarym earned fame for his proposal to block social networks or the sake of children. But it seems that Nurlybek Ozhayev, another a deputy of the Mazhilis (lower chamber of the Parliament), outshined him. He proposed ... to ban any covering of trials until they are over.

Literally, the chosen representative of the people MP Ozhayev proposed to make the following amendment into Article 25 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges": No one has the right to cover cases pending before the court and not entered legal force in social networks and/or in mass media. Persons guilty of violating part one of this paragraph, as well as the ones guilty in other interference in the activities of the court, bear responsibility established by the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan. "

The MP's grounds for making such amendment are the following: “One of the parties of a trial may publishes in advance false, inaccurate information on the case in order to form a negative public opinion against its opponent and put pressure on the court. Therefore, it is necessary to make provision for a rule prohibiting the coverage of cases before the  court's decision is proclaimed”.

Comments are superfluous. Even at the time of  Stalin's repressions, no one thought of introducing a ban on covering trials. We wonder if the author of the discriminatory proposal knows that it contradicts the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the country's international obligations and the national legislation in force?

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