According to correspondents of the Kazakh edition of the Russian daily “Komsomolskaya pravda”, on 29 May 1996 the newspaper’s editors and a local District Court judge were unofficially summoned through an anonymous posting of a notice in the local newspaper “Karavan” for talks with the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan, Maksut Sultanovich Narikbaev. During the meeting, […]
According to correspondents of the Kazakh edition of the Russian
daily “Komsomolskaya pravda”, on 29 May 1996 the newspaper’s
editors and a local District Court judge were unofficially
summoned through an anonymous posting of a notice in the local
newspaper “Karavan” for talks with the Prosecutor General of
Kazakhstan, Maksut Sultanovich Narikbaev. During the meeting, the
Prosecutor General ordered a 7 June District Court hearing on
charges that “Komsomolskaya pravda” had violated the Constitution
of Kazakhstan, which forbids incitement of ethnic hatred and
violation of territorial integrity. As well, the Prosecutor
General proposed to ban “Komsomolskaya pravda”, which the
District Court judge in charge of the case unsuccessfully urged
him to withdraw, in spite of pointing out that the exchange of
opinion in newspapers is protected under Kazakhstan’s press law.
The charges cite an article published in the 23 April edition of
“Komsomolskaya pravda” by well-known Russian writer Alexander
Solzhenitsyn. In the article, Solzhenitsyn calls for the
reunification of the northern districts of Kazakhstan with
Russia. “Komsomolskaya pravda” followed up the Solzhenitsyn
article by publishing letters of opposing views.
The correspondents also stated that the chairman of the state-run
National Agency for Press and Mass Media of Kazakhstan, Altynbek
Sarsenbaev, announced that he planned to petition the Prosecutor
General to close “Komsomolskaya pravda” for six months because of
the alleged constitutional violations.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
constitutes a serious threat to press freedom in Kazakhstan
pravda” are dropped immediately, and that the free flow of
information and ideas be permitted in Kazakhstan
Appeals To
His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev
President of Kazakhstan
Fax: +7 3272 63 76 33
Maksut Sultanovich Narikbaev
Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan
Fax: +7 3272 53 27 30
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
