(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 19 October 2005, the popular opposition newspaper “Svoboda Slova” reported that a car transporting copies of the paper was stopped by Almaty police a few meters from the Dauyr printing press and police proceeded to seize 50,000 copies of the paper. According to a “Svoboda Slova” statement, the seizure was based […]
(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 19 October 2005, the popular opposition newspaper “Svoboda Slova” reported that a car transporting copies of the paper was stopped by Almaty police a few meters from the Dauyr printing press and police proceeded to seize 50,000 copies of the paper.
According to a “Svoboda Slova” statement, the seizure was based on a document signed by Almaty City Election Commission chairman Daulet Baideldinov. The document has no legal standing. In the document, Gulzhan Yergaliyeva, the paper’s owner and editor-in-chief, was accused of “distributing falsehoods”. The accusation came before the paper had managed to reach newsstands.
Gulzhan Yergaliyeva managed to save the remaining 50,000 copies of the paper, which she brought to the offices of the opposition party For a Just Kazakhstan.
The editor-in-chief said the seizure was illegal, as according to Article 20 of the Law on Mass Media only the courts have the authority to decide if a paper can be seized. It remains unclear how the police knew if information published in the paper was false immediately after it had been printed but prior to its distribution.
“Svoboda Slova” has a circulation of 100,000 copies and is distributed in all cities of the country. The paper has previously published materials critical of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his family.
