News

8 September is the International Day of Journalists’ Solidarity. This date reminds us that journalism is not only a profession, but also a community in which mutual support and a willingness to defend our colleagues’ right to work freely and safely are especially important.

Family members of Atyrau journalist and civic activist Olesya Vertinskaya have provided the Adil Soz Foundation with video footage that contradicts the police account of her “compulsory appearance.”

The International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech “Adil Soz” expresses concern over the situation involving environmental activist Aruna Ortayeva, who was searched, taken to a police station and sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention after publishing audio recordings from a closed meeting of Almaty city administration officials.

Several developments in recent days have once again raised concerns about the state of independent journalism in Kazakhstan.

On 3 September, a court in Atyrau ordered journalist and activist Olesya Vertinskaya, who works with the local media outlet Dorozhny Patrul (“Road Patrol”), to be placed under house arrest for two months. Shortly before the court hearing, a video showing police officers forcibly taking her from outside the city prosecutor’s office circulated on social media.

In Pavlodar, the car of Hronika.kz journalist Olga Voronko was vandalized during the night of 2 September: its tires were slashed and the vehicle was doused with green antiseptic dye. According to the outlet, that same night the lock on the apartment door of an editor from another Pavlodar-based website was also damaged.