(Adil Soz/IFEX) – In 2005, Adil Soz’s monitoring service documented over 600 violations of journalists’ and media outlets’ rights, which are guaranteed by the national legislation of Kazakhstan. Nineteen journalists were attacked during the past year. Fifty three of them were prevented from carrying out their professional activities, which is a criminal offence under the […]
(Adil Soz/IFEX) – In 2005, Adil Soz’s monitoring service documented over 600 violations of journalists’ and media outlets’ rights, which are guaranteed by the national legislation of Kazakhstan. Nineteen journalists were attacked during the past year. Fifty three of them were prevented from carrying out their professional activities, which is a criminal offence under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 426 cases, journalists were denied or restricted access to information of public interest, according to the monitoring.
The monitoring service also registered nine threats against journalists. In the first months of 2005, President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a law “On Amendments to Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on National Security Issues.” International and local human rights activists believe the law restricts freedom of expression, putting media outlets and journalists under stricter working conditions.
The presidential campaign of 2005 marked the third quarter of the year. Presidential elections and the pre-election struggle did adversely affect both the social climate in the country and the situation of the mass media and journalists’ rights in particular. During this period, 322 violations of journalists’ and media outlets’ rights were registered by the monitoring service, including journalists being attacked, prevented from doing their job, restricted from access to information of public importance, etc. Circulations of newspapers such as “Svoboda slova”, “Juma times”, “Set’ KZ”, which are known for sympathizing with the opposition, were repeatedly seized by the police. Journalists and media outlets continued to face unjustified court orders and court orders on the grounds of “protection of honour, dignity and business reputation”. Since the beginning of the year, media outlets and journalists faced nine defamation charges, three charges of insulting the honor and dignity of the President and one charge of inciting national enmity and failing to follow a court decision. The total amount, sought in the lawsuits against the media outlets and journalists, is 400 910 trillion 150 billion 370 million 940 thousand tenge (approx. USD$2,991,866,793,812,985).
