In Kazakhstan, a lawsuit was filed against journalist because of article about Nazarbaev

A criminal case has been instituted against Kazakh journalist, Askhat Asan, under the article 174 of the Criminal Code (inciting social discord). Asan has already been summoned for interrogation to the police department of Medeu district of Almaty.

According to the Bureau of Human Rights in Kazakhstan, the journalist’s article “Will there be a day when the ex-president will be interrogated by Interpol?”, which was dedicated to the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, became the basis for the initiation of the case. This material was published in the Kazakh-language newspaper “Zhas Alash”, in the short period of time when Inga Imanbay was the editor of the publication office.

Recall that on February 24, the founders of the publication office fired Imanbay because of pressure from the authorities. Following Imanbay, three more journalists left the newspaper. They were the executive secretary, Yrysbek Dabei, and two reporters Askhat Asan and Esdaulet Kyzyrbekuly.

“During the interrogation, an investigator from the capital, who was on a business trip in Almaty, asked leading questions about the role of Inga Imanbay in writing the article that, as Askhat Asan said, was written on his own initiative,” the Bureau said. “Inga Imanbay, now working at the Human Rights Bureau, believes that she can also become a defendant in a criminal case. It is unclear how the personality of the former President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev (even with his family) was drawn in a “social group” in relation to which a fomentation can be allowed.”

The Bureau of Human Rights in Kazakhstan also recalls that the Criminal Code contains a “political” article 373 “Public insult and other infringement of the honor and dignity of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbasy [nation leader], desecration of images of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbasy, obstruction of the legitimate activities of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbasy”, which also provides for imprisonment for Nazarbaev’s critics.