(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 6 April 2005, a Medeu District Court judge in Almaty found “Zhas Alash” newspaper and journalists Ruslan Yerbota and Yerik Rahimov guilty of defamation. The court obliged the paper to pay 100,000 tenge (approx. US$750) in moral damages to plaintiff Serik Abdrahmanov, a deputy in the lower house of Parliament. Yerbota […]
(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 6 April 2005, a Medeu District Court judge in Almaty found “Zhas Alash” newspaper and journalists Ruslan Yerbota and Yerik Rahimov guilty of defamation. The court obliged the paper to pay 100,000 tenge (approx. US$750) in moral damages to plaintiff Serik Abdrahmanov, a deputy in the lower house of Parliament. Yerbota and Rahimov were fined 10,000 tenge (approx. US$75).
Abdrahmanov filed the lawsuit on 1 December 2004 for “protection of honour, dignity and business reputation”. The lawsuit was based on seven critical articles published in “Zhas Alash” in 2003 and 2004. The articles accused Abdrahmanov of failing to return state-sponsored loans.
The court ruled against “Zhas Alash”, Yerbota and Rahimov despite the fact the paper’s attorney submitted documents in court proving the claims made in the articles. The documents demonstrated that Abdrahmanov, as former head of the Yelimay Commercial Fund, had received and failed to return state-sponsored loans.
“Zhas Alash” newspaper reports on politically-sensitive topics of a national scope.
