(Adil Soz/IFEX) – Adil Soz condemns the draft law submitted the week of 9 October 2006 to the Kazakh Parliament by the government, which is, in fact, aimed to increase criminal punishment for defamation. Adil Soz believes the draft law, “On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Matters […]
(Adil Soz/IFEX) – Adil Soz condemns the draft law submitted the week of 9 October 2006 to the Kazakh Parliament by the government, which is, in fact, aimed to increase criminal punishment for defamation.
Adil Soz believes the draft law, “On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Matters Related to Responsibility for Defamation and Violence”, runs contrary to Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) efforts to decriminalize defamation and insult. Instead, it curtails freedom of expression and the right of citizens to freely receive and distribute information in the election period.
The draft law supplements article 129 of the Criminal Code with a paragraph that sets a criminal punishment of up to two years in prison for defamation against candidates for Presidency during the election period. Punishment for defamation, originally worded in article 129, was limited to “fine in an amount from 100 up to 250 monthly calculated indexes, or in an amount of wages or other income of a given convict for a period up to two months, or by engagement in public works for a period from 120 up to 180 hours, or by correctional labour for a period up to one year.”
According to Ak zhol, an opposition party in Kazakhstan, if adopted, the law would further criminalize the terms “defamation” and “insult,” imposing more restrictions on the constitutional right of citizens to freedom of expression and constituting another step toward demolishing the human rights and freedoms of Kazakhstan citizens.
