(RSF/IFEX) – On 15 April 2003, RSF condemned the Kazakh authorities for blocking access to several websites that are run by the opposition or provide independent news. Several of the targeted websites regularly carry critical articles about President Nursultan Nazarbayev and government officials involved in corruption. “The near-monopoly of the state-owned Kazakhtelecom as an Internet […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 15 April 2003, RSF condemned the Kazakh authorities for blocking access to several websites that are run by the opposition or provide independent news. Several of the targeted websites regularly carry critical articles about President Nursultan Nazarbayev and government officials involved in corruption.
“The near-monopoly of the state-owned Kazakhtelecom as an Internet service provider (ISP) must not be used to block independent and diverse news,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter to Culture and Information Minister Mukhtar Kul-Mukhamed. “We ask that you make every effort to guarantee the free flow of online news and to end all censorship of news websites, regardless of their editorial line,” Ménard added.
Yuri Mizinov, editor of the news website “Navigator” (www.navigator.kz), called in experts who told him that all Kazakhtelecom customers had been prevented from accessing the site. Other political news sites, such as www.eurasia.org.ru, www.kub.kz, the websites of opposition figures Mukhtar Ablyazov (www.ablyazov.info), Galymzhan Zhakiyanov (www.zhakiyanov.info) and Akezhan Kazhegeldyn (www.kazhegeldin.addr.com), as well as opposition media sites such as “Vesti Pavlodara” (www.vestipavl.com), “Assandi Times” and www.respublika.kz have also been blocked. The only way to access the sites is through foreign-based ISPs, which involves delays of up to half an hour.
