The international human rights organization “Reporters Without Borders” demanded that the Kazakh authorities put an end to the persecution of journalists covering the COVID-19 epidemic in Kazakhstan. The corresponding statement was published on the official website of the organization.
According to RWB, Kazakh journalists, covering the COVID-19 epidemic, are being interrogated and prosecuted; the confidentiality of their sources is violated.
“Among the victims are Zaure Mirzakhodjaeva, journalist and blogger in the city of Chimkent. The police called her on April 23 and interrogated for seven hours because of her post on Facebook. Currently, an official investigation is underway against Mirzakhodjaeva under the article 274 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan for disseminating knowingly false information,” the organization said in the statement.
It should be noted that the interrogation of Chimkent’s journalist was arranged a few days after the arrest of civil activist Alnur Ilyashev and journalist Arman Shuraev.
As Mirzakhodjaeva wrote on Facebook, the investigator, who invited her for interrogation, refused to report by phone, why a pre-trial investigation is being conducted against her.
“Over the past ten days, I have had three resonant publications. In two of them, I wrote about the arrests of blogger Ruslan Zhanpeisov and his employer. A lot of provocative comments appeared under them, but I deleted them all. Another “high-profile” publication concerned the work of a private television channel and its sudden love for the mayor,” the journalist said to the Kazakh publication “Ratel.kz”.
The day after the interrogation, the journalist said that she was okay, but she could not tell more, since she had given a subscription about the non-disclosure of the investigation materials.
“As you know, this limits me. I’m so mentally and physically exhausted that I can’t bear to write, weighing every word so as not to harm myself. However, I want to say many thanks to all who supported me. I am absolutely confident in my innocence and my lawyers Shakirzhan, Venera Koblanova, Shymyrbai Agabekov support me in this. Several other human rights defenders and lawyers have expressed a desire to become members of our team. For me, this is proof that I do everything legally, correctly and honestly. These days your universal support is especially important to me, because when we are united we are invincible,” Mirzakhodjaeva wrote.
On April 30, it became known that the process against the journalist is over.
“The City court satisfied the complaints of my lawyer Shakirzhan Makhamataliev. Due to the prohibition of disclosure, I cannot provide any details,” she said.
Meanwhile, as noted in the RSF’s statement, Kazakh journalists and the media began to be prosecuted from the first days after the introduction of the state of emergency in the country.
“The authorities are closely monitoring social networks and the media for what they consider to be excessive criticism of the government’s actions in relation to the health crisis. On March 23, the President Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev urged special agencies, the Prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Information to “pay close attention to the spread of rumors and provocative messages” in order to “identify and punish” those responsible,” the RWB noted.
According to the head of the RWB Bureau for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Jeanne Cavelier, the authorities of Kazakhstan are persecuting journalists and bloggers who deviate from the official line concerning the epidemic under “the pretext of preventing panic”.
“This exploitation of the state of emergency is detrimental to freedom of the press in Kazakhstan. It must be stopped,” Cavelier emphasized.
The statement also noted that Kazakhstan ranks 157th out of 180 countries in the global RWB Press Freedom Index in 2020.
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