(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 11 April 2006 in Almaty, unknown individuals broke into the apartment of Ramazan Yesergepov, a journalist for “Alma-ata info” newspaper, in his absence. The intruders forced Yesergepov’s entrance door open and stole some gold items from his house. The police arrived 45 minutes later, saying they did not have enough gasoline […]
(Adil Soz/IFEX) – On 11 April 2006 in Almaty, unknown individuals broke into the apartment of Ramazan Yesergepov, a journalist for “Alma-ata info” newspaper, in his absence. The intruders forced Yesergepov’s entrance door open and stole some gold items from his house. The police arrived 45 minutes later, saying they did not have enough gasoline to get to Yesergepov’s home faster. Yesergepov believes the burglary was related to his reporting, in particular to a number of critical articles published in recent editions of the paper.
Furthermore, the journalist underlined that his family was also facing recent pressure. His son, for instance, who had been working for an Almaty bank, was forced to resign. In April, the City Akimat’s Internal Politics Department filed charges against the newspaper “Alma-ata info” under article 342 of the Administrative Code of Kazakhstan, for allegedly violating the law on mass media.
Adil Soz does not rule out the possibility that the burglary was linked to Yeserepov’s reporting. The President of the Foundation Adil Soz said: “We have observed a lot of cases where journalists began facing personal security problems after having published critical reports.”
