(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 25 March 2005, the Inter-District Economic Court in Almaty held final hearings in the case against the Bestau company, which owns “Respublika” newspaper. The Culture, Information and Sport Ministry’s Information and Archives Committee filed the lawsuit after the newspaper published transcripts of an interview given by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Russian Parliament’s […]
(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 25 March 2005, the Inter-District Economic Court in Almaty held final hearings in the case against the Bestau company, which owns “Respublika” newspaper. The Culture, Information and Sport Ministry’s Information and Archives Committee filed the lawsuit after the newspaper published transcripts of an interview given by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Russian Parliament’s (Duma) vice-speaker and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), to Radio Echo Moscvy (Radio Echo of Moscow).
Public Prosecutor Bulytbai Mamytov acted for the prosecution since the Information and Archives Committee is, by law, unable to act as a plaintiff.
The newspaper’s attorney, Sergey Utkin, argued in court that the interview had no negative consequences for Kazakhstani citizens or for the country’s unity. However, presiding Judge Sheker Baiguzhina ruled in favour of the plaintiff, obliging the newspaper to stop publication once the court’s decision came into force.
“Respublika” was shut down once before under similar circumstances. In May 2002, the newspaper’s previous owner, the PR-Konsalting (PR-Consulting) company, was liquidated after the former Culture, Information and Public Accord Ministry launched a lawsuit against it.
