Central Asia: aggression against journalists became more intense
Since last year, the Foundation for Justice for Journalists (JFJ, UK) has been regularly monitoring attacks against journalists, bloggers, and network activists in Central Asia. In March 2020, the Foundation and Index of Censorship, an international non-profit organization, announced a joint global initiative to document and analyze media rights violations related to the coronavirus pandemic. JFJ Director Maria Ordzhonikidze told ACCA more about this.
– What does the Foundation want to show by its activities?
– In our opinion, acts of aggression against journalists in the post-Soviet space, whose population is comparable to 2/3 of the EU’s population, are not well known in Europe. For comparison, the situation with freedom of speech in African and Asian countries is incomparably more often researched and discussed in detail on international platforms.
As practice shows, if the problem is kept in constant focus and influential forces are involved in its discussion, then it begins to be solved. We noted that after the launch of our Media Risk Map in Russian and English, the international organizations Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have begun to report more on attacks on journalists in post-Soviet countries.
The Foundation, in particular, helped to draw additional attention to such cases as denial of accreditation to journalists in Tajikistan, persecutions in Uzbekistan of Bobomurod Abdullayev, interrogations of Karakalpak bloggers and journalists, accusations of hooliganism of Azerbaijani journalist of the Azadlig newspaper Tazakhan Miralamli.
On the Media Risk Map, we cooperate with experts and NGOs from all Central Asian countries. Thanks to this cooperation, it is updated almost daily – it includes attacks on journalists, bloggers, and media workers in Russian and English.
– What are the general trends and differences in attacks that were observed during the monitoring period?
– According to the report on the CA countries and Azerbaijan, in 2019, compared to 2017, everywhere, except for Uzbekistan, there was an increase in the absolute number of attacks. The region was dominated by attacks using legal mechanisms (primarily detentions, arrests, initiation of administrative and criminal cases). The main source of threats for media workers is government officials. In four countries, the number of attacks of this type has increased in three years, in Kyrgyzstan it has decreased, in Uzbekistan, it has remained approximately the same.
In terms of the number of physical attacks, Azerbaijan leads by a large margin, where only last year it became known about 26 such incidents. This country is characterized by brutal beatings of journalists during detentions and even kidnapping of journalists with subsequent repatriation from other countries.
Kazakhstan ranks first in attacks using legal and/or economic mechanisms. On average, more than 50 cases are brought here per year against media workers on charges of libel, insult, and damage to reputation. Around 30-40 cases a year go to trial, in half of the cases a fine is awarded, about a third ends in prison. Non-physical attacks are also common in Kazakhstan, including bullying, intimidation, damage and seizure of property/documents, and account hacking.
Tajikistan leads the region in terms of the number of media workers accused of extremism, terrorist ties, and incitement to hatred. This country is also characterized by the persecution of family members of journalists, their persecution, interrogation, detention, and arrest.
The nature of attacks on journalists in Kyrgyzstan has changed towards a multiple increase in threats in cyberspace through DDoS and hacker attacks on online media.
In Turkmenistan, the most informationally closed country (in 2019 it was ranked last 180 in the annual ranking of Reporters Without Borders), it is almost impossible to work as a journalist. Information about what is happening in the country is brought to the foreign media by people’s correspondents. They send photos and videos at the risk of being discovered by an expensive tracking system that covers the entire country. In 2020, we were able to record only an attack on journalist Soltan Achilova.
According to the preliminary findings of our joint project with Index on Censorship, the pandemic has become a convenient way to silence journalists objectionable to the authorities. Therefore, even the non-recognition of the fact of the pandemic by some Central Asian countries did not prevent them from using it as a pretext for even more severe pressure on journalists.
All attacks on journalists for non-compliance with the new rules and laws related to COVID-19 came from government officials. The main method of pressure was attacking using legal and/or economic mechanisms – arrests, interrogations, and fines.
Fifty-seven attacks on journalists were recorded in CA countries and Azerbaijan. Most cases, 28, were recorded in Kazakhstan. A similar tactic is also found in Uzbekistan – from there information was obtained referring to nine cases. There is an anecdotal case when blogger Kamola Mazhidova in her video addressed the monument to Amir Temur with a question when the coronavirus will leave Uzbekistan. Instead of the statutory fine for being without a mask in a public place, the woman was arrested for 15 days for violating quarantine rules and petty hooliganism. Bloggers and independent journalists have been arrested and fined more than once under the pretext of violating sanitary standards, but in fact, for critical articles and videos.
There are five cases recorded in Tajikistan. Almost all of them are associated with the position of the authorities, which deny the presence of a pandemic. For example, the sites of the Tajik service of Radio Svoboda and several other independent media were blocked, and the editorial offices received calls demanding not to stir up panic over COVID-19. Several journalists were arrested and interrogated in the course of their work on publications about the real situation in the country.
In Kyrgyzstan, the authorities took advantage of the pandemic and, under the guise of concern for the health of journalists, denied them accreditation during the state of emergency. This is done in direct violation of the current legislation on the state of emergency in the country: the law does not provide for the rules on refusal of accreditation. Relatives of Azimjon Askarov, who spent 10 years in prison, associate his tragic death with being infected with coronavirus in prison and denying him the necessary medical care.
– How many journalists in Central Asia have been persecuted for any reason since the beginning of the year?
– For eight months of 2020, we recorded 512 attacks in CA countries and Azerbaijan. This statistic does not include attacks related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The largest number of cases was recorded in Kazakhstan – 190. Basically, these are attacks using legal and/or economic mechanisms – 146. Then comes Azerbaijan – 131 (73 attacks using legal mechanisms) and Uzbekistan – 88 (47 – legal).
The leader in attacks of a non-physical nature and/or in cyberspace is Uzbekistan (36 cases) and in terms of physical attacks – Azerbaijan (25 – all, fortunately, non-lethal).
An alarming trend is observed in Uzbekistan: in 8 months of 2020, 88 attacks against journalists have already been recorded there, while during the whole of 2019 there were 90 attacks.
One of the most resonant cases was the sudden death of Dulat Agadil, who was arrested the day before, in the capital’s pre-trial detention center. An independent Kazakh journalist who participated in various protests and broadcasted online from the trials was detained on the evening of February 24, and a few hours later, the police announced his death in a pre-trial detention center. The official version is that death was due to acute heart failure. Many activists and human rights defenders believe that the civil activist was tortured in the pre-trial detention center, after which he died.
Another tough attack against a journalist took place a little over a month ago in Azerbaijan. 27-year-old blogger Aslan Gurbanov, suffering from severe epilepsy, was detained on July 14 by the State Security Service using force in the village of Bina. During the arrest, he lost consciousness and had convulsions. The young man was charged under Art. 281.2 (open calls against the state) and 283.1 (inciting national, religious, social hatred) of the Criminal Code. The court arrested Gurbanov for four months. The accusation is based on the blogger’s publications on Facebook and Instagram.
In January, activist Nafosat Ollashukurova was forced to emigrate from Uzbekistan, one of the few post-Soviet countries that still use punitive psychiatry. Earlier, the mother of two was arrested for covering the action of a local journalist, went on a hunger strike, and spent three months in the Khorezm psycho-neurological dispensary.
– How did the change of power, which took place for the first time since 1991, affected the work of journalists in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan?
– Judging by the data available to us, after the change of the President of Kazakhstan in March 2019, the situation for independent journalists in the country has not improved. Thus, a quantitative analysis of the three main types of attacks against journalists on the territory of Kazakhstan in the period from January 2017 to December 2019 shows an increase in the number of attacks in all categories: in 2017, 190 attacks were recorded, in 2019 – 267. In the first eight months of 2020, it has already been recorded 190 attacks. The main purpose of attacks/threats is to prevent the publication of materials.
The monitoring situation in Uzbekistan remains not entirely satisfactory. Despite the thoroughness of the processing of open data and the information of the JFJ expert, the real number of attacks is probably higher. We know that journalists are intimidated by the authorities, so they often do not talk about threats against them, or disavow reports of attacks, fearing for their safety and the safety of their loved ones. In 2017-2019, 131 attacks were recorded in the country (the risk coefficient is 0.55, the lowest of the 12 post-Soviet countries), of which two facts of fatal accidents, one fact of kidnapping, one fact of a non-fatal accident, and eight cases of non-fatal attacks, beatings, injuries and torture. Relatives of journalists working abroad are under pressure in the country.
– What investigations of crimes in Central Asia against journalists, bloggers, and online activists are supported by the foundation? What practical benefits can the fund provide to Central Asian journalists?
– The foundation has issued two grants to investigate violent crimes against media workers in the region. In 2020 – to investigate the murder of Alisher Saipov (Uzbekistan / Kyrgyzstan), and before that in 2019 – to investigate the murder of Elmar Huseynov (Azerbaijan). In January 2021, we will announce the terms of the next year’s grant program and will again invite all journalists whose applications meet our criteria to participate.
In addition, training at the online Academy of Media Security named after Orhan Dzhemal is free for all Russian-speaking journalists. To date, several dozen colleagues from the region are already studying there.
– What is the reaction of representatives of the media communities and authorities in Central Asia to the activities of the fund?
– We are not yet able to track all links to statements, articles, and reports of the fund in Central Asia. The most recent example of the authorities’ close attention to our work from Uzbekistan. The data from the report on attacks in Central Asia were used by the defense of blogger Nikita Makarenko in court in the case of business pressure on freedom of speech in this country.
The national services of Radio Svoboda in Central Asia periodically use the report’s findings in their materials. Also, we collaborate with Lana Estemirova (daughter of the murdered Chechen journalist and human rights activist Natalya Estemirova), who regularly publishes podcasts in English about the work of journalists around the world. Podcasts have already been released with the participation of journalists from Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
– On what international platforms is the fund’s information used?
– Although the fund has been operating for less than two years, we have already managed to win the respect of the international expert community. We partner with reputable organizations – Reporters Without Borders, Rory Peck Trust, ACOS Alliance, The Foreign Policy Center, Frontline Freelance Register, Index on Censorship, and universities. Our foundation is part of the National Committee for the Safety of Journalists (UK Parliament). The essence of cooperation is informing, providing facts and analytics on the problems of freedom of speech. JFJ’s information is important for the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (France).
