(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 6 October 2006, the city court of Almaty upheld a decision by the district court, obliging “Central Asia Monitor” newspaper staff to pay significant fines. The newspaper’s founder and publisher, Alem BG company, and journalist Sayat Musin were ordered to pay 1 million tenge (approx. US$7800) respectively, while its editor was […]
(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 6 October 2006, the city court of Almaty upheld a decision by the district court, obliging “Central Asia Monitor” newspaper staff to pay significant fines. The newspaper’s founder and publisher, Alem BG company, and journalist Sayat Musin were ordered to pay 1 million tenge (approx. US$7800) respectively, while its editor was ordered to pay 3 million tenge (approx. US$23,400) to Yerasyl Abylkasymov, a member of Majilis (the lower chamber of the Parliament).
The lawsuit was based on an article entitled “Yerasyl Abylkasymov- project man”, published in the paper on 16 December 2005. In his lawsuit, the plaintiff claimed that a “Central Asia Monitor” article published in the section UI[F]O (unidentified individual objects), was aimed at undermining his reputation as a member of Parliament and ex-candidate for the Presidency.
The court found the article to be insulting to the honor and dignity of Abylkasymov, despite two independent linguistic reports that had confirmed the opposite. Furthermore, the defence said in court that the article was based on Abylkasymov’s interview fragments reprinted from other media outlets.
