(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 17 April 2001 letter to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, CPJ welcomed the recent decision of the Almaty prosecutor’s office to drop criminal defamation charges against Bigeldy Gabdullin, editor of the opposition weekly “XXI Vek”. However, the organisation remains deeply concerned about the government’s frequent use of politically-motivated criminal charges to harass opposition […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 17 April 2001 letter to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, CPJ welcomed the recent decision of the Almaty prosecutor’s office to drop criminal defamation charges against Bigeldy Gabdullin, editor of the opposition weekly “XXI Vek”. However, the organisation remains deeply concerned about the government’s frequent use of politically-motivated criminal charges to harass opposition journalists.
The formal charges against Gabdullin were based on two articles about the president’s alleged personal corruption that he published in the 20 October 2000 edition of “XXI Vek”. The prosecutor claimed that the articles had “negative connotations and aimed at harming the honor and dignity of the President,” local sources reported.
On 6 April, the prosecutor’s office issued a press release stating that it had dropped the case due to the “absence of [a] crime,” although the newspaper has not yet received formal notification to this effect.
On 3 April, meanwhile, Gabdullin’s colleague Yermurat Bapi, editor of the opposition weekly “SolDat”, was convicted of “publicly insulting the dignity and honor of the President,” an offense under Article 318.2 of the Criminal Code. The charges were based on two articles that he published in the 30 May and 6 July issues of “SolDat”.
The first article held the president responsible for violent ethnic clashes in the former Kazakh capital, Almaty, in December 1986. The second article was written by prominent Kazakh historian and dissident Karishal Asanov, who was Bapi’s co-defendant at the trial. The prosecution claimed
that Asanov described the president as illiterate, incompetent, and corrupt. On 3 April, the court found Bapi guilty as charged, sentenced him to one year in jail, and ordered him to pay some US$280 in court expenses (Asanov was acquitted for lack of evidence).
The court also ordered that the 6 July print run of “SolDat” be burned.
Bapi was immediately pardoned under a presidential amnesty. Unless the court verdict is overturned, however, he will remain a convicted criminal who is banned from traveling abroad, among other restrictions. Bapi is appealing the verdict.
Although both editors are currently at liberty, neither paper is able to publish in Kazakhstan because local printers will not risk incurring the wrath of local officials, CPJ sources say.
While the two editors were formally prosecuted for their published work, CPJ sources in Almaty believe they also angered Kazakh authorities by endorsing a United States Justice Department investigation into tens of millions of dollars in bribes that U.S. oil companies allegedly paid to senior Kazakh officials.
In early January, Gabdullin, Bapi, and thirty other prominent Kazakh citizens signed an open letter to the Justice Department and the U.S. Congress, expressing their support for the investigation. The letter was published in the Kazakh press and in the 15 January edition of “Roll Call”, a U.S. newspaper that covers the Congress.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– protesting the government’s efforts to silence Bapi and Gabdullin
– reminding him that Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees everybody, including journalists, the freedom to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”
– noting that there is no justification for restricting legitimate news coverage simply because
it may be critical of his government
– stating that Bapi’s unjust conviction should be reversed and that “SolDat” and “XXI Vek” should be allowed to publish and distribute in Kazakhstan without further restriction
– calling on him to use the powers of his office to end the criminal prosecution of journalists for libel, and to create an atmosphere in which all journalists may work without fear of reprisal
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev
President of Kazakhstan
Beibitshlik Street 11
Astana, Kazakhstan 473000
Fax: +7 3172 323 073 / +7 3172 327 274
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
