Expert: We hope that the President of Kazakhstan will improve the situation with freedom of speech

In Turkestan region of Kazakhstan, a new trial has begun against a civil activist, the editor of the newspaper “Saryagash info” Amangeldy Batyrbekov. This year, it is the second court for Batyrbekov.

Recall that earlier ACCA reported that on September 23, the Saryagash district court of Turkestan region sentenced Batyrbekov to 2.3 years in prison, finding him guilty of defamation and insult. The lawsuit was filed against the journalist by the head of the education department of Keles region Bakhtiyar Abdiev (pictured right), who became the hero of the post “Idiocy in Keles”, which Batyrbekov published on the social network Facebook.

However, the sentence was then appealed to the board of appeal. On November 25, at the second-instance court, the author of the examination, who saw signs of slander and insult in Batyrbekov’s post, could not answer a number of significant questions of the judge. Based on this, the court sent the controversial text to a new examination. The next hearing of the appellate court is expected where a new examination will be presented.

However, the judicial adventures of the journalist did not end there. On December 11, a new trial began over him; now, according to the statement of the chairman of the public association “Zangar-Medet” Leyla Darkhanbaeva. The plaintiff accused Batyrbekov and his wife Gulzad Baimuratova, and another four people of defamation and insult by publications on Facebook.

According to the head of the International Foundation for the protection of freedom of speech “Adil Soz” Tamara Kaleeva, despite the fact that Batyrbekov has hopes for his justification in the first trial, there is a strong belief that they still want to put him in prison. And the second trial is a vivid confirmation of this.

The ACCA correspondent talked with Kaleeva about this lawsuit and about the general situation with freedom of speech in Kazakhstan.

– Tamara Miskhadovna, how do you assess Batyrbekov’s chances? Is there any hope?

– There is always hope. The fact that the appellate court doubted the expertise that formed the basis of the first instance verdict and ordered a new one already inspires hope for the integrity and objectivity of the court. I know that Batyrbekov’s lawyers attended to an independent examination, which will most likely be presented at the next court hearing. The question is – when will it be? Now, as you know, a new trial has begun against Batyrbekov. For this, he was escorted from Kentau, where he was detained, to Saryagash. I get the impression that some local residents at the regional ranks decided to neutralize him once and for all. We are well aware that in Saryagash, and in any other region of Kazakhstan, everyone knows each other well, and each person there has his own personal attitude. Therefore, I think that my assumption is not unfounded.

– That is, he will still be jailed?

– Theoretically, this cannot be ruled out, because Batyrbekov criticized many, and these many, theoretically, can also go to court.

– Are there any other cases in Kazakhstan against journalists at the moment that you are concerned about?

– The case of Batyrbekov is the most serious process today, because it is “slander” and a guilty verdict. So, the processes against journalists are everywhere. I’m talking about civil processes.

– What do you think about blocking the website “Ural week”?

– It’s a well-tested script. We all know very well about sites that have been blocked for a long time. As much as we did not try to find out who was behind this, it was useless. There is not a single government agency in the country which would take responsibility for blockages. Do you remember blocking of portals Zonakz.net and Ratel.kz? It was the same situation. No one knew anything. This is some sort of collective responsibility!

– Recently, there was a message from the journalist Fariza Ospan, criticizing the deputy Karakat Abden from the local elected body of the city of Nur-Sultan, that she received threats from a hidden number, which she was able to identify as a number belonging to someone from the “Presidential Security service”.

– Our lawyer helped her to write the statement to the police.

– That is, the fact of threats was confirmed… What were they?

– She did not list them, but, most likely, they are banal-hooligan like I’ll find you, bury… Beware! etc. I don’t know how it will end. She did rightly that she wrote the statement; at least, she protected herself … But let’s remember how many violations of the journalists’ rights were this year.

– How many?

– We have statistics for January-October on violation of the right to freedom of expression. 31 cases of detention! Obstruction – 17 cases, illegal blocking – 23 cases, 17 cases of defamation, 63 of honor and dignity. Civil law claims against the media and journalists – 61, including on the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation – 54. The claimed sum of compensation for moral damage amounted to $259 000. The courts exacted about $6000.

– This year, the editorial board of the portal Ratel.kz after long blocking, by the court’s decision, was still able to start. Can this be considered a positive trend? Or does the situation with freedom of speech in Kazakhstan leave much to be desired?

– We still live in expectations that the situation will improve, because in fact, it is getting worse. We have not had an imprisonment of a journalist since 2009. And this year, the first prisoner appeared, and this is a very big minus. I don’t know if this negative fact can smooth out the fact of opening Ratel? Ratel was opened, thank God! But they were persecuted for a year, they were tested if the guys retain the potential for reopening or run away. After all, all the other publications that were closed in my memory, they no longer resurrected. Only Ratel succeeded to do it. Apparently, those, who closed them, did not count on such fortitude. In a word, I have no reason to believe that this year the situation is better than in the past. Speaking in figures and facts, the situation is much worse. Generally speaking, now we have a transit period, and a new President with his promises gives some hope. There has been talk all the time about the decriminalization of libel and insult. It is significant for me that recently the Ministry of Information turned to us for information (statistics and research) on libel, insult and fomenting of strife. Before that, we reproached them many times, that they did not protect journalists and did not have their own position, but they did not react. And then, suddenly, they are interested. I think this is not accidental. Apparently, some movements at the highest level are going on. There are forecasts that after the celebration of Independence Day, the President Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev will speak at the next meeting of the National Council of Public Confidence and announce some serious legislative reforms, including the decriminalization of libel and insult. Honestly, I doubt it, after the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, said that slander should be punished more strictly. And the pathetic attempt to mitigate the punishment for this was disappeared from the draft Criminal code. Since April, there were draft amendments and additions to the Criminal code on various websites. Among other things, it was proposed to remove the punishment of imprisonment in the first part of the article 130 for the so-called domestic slander. The author of this amendment was the General Prosecutor’s office, which itself introduced this norm of punishment in 2014, despite public protests. And four years later, they suddenly decided to remove this norm, and presented it as liberalization and democratization, as a breakthrough in the field of democracy. After Nazarbaev demanded to toughen the punishment for slander, in the draft that was submitted to the deputies for approval, these changes did not remain. That is, it was proposed to continue to jail, jail and jail again. By the way, I would like to note that our methodology for the examination of texts is very old and ugly. Not in vain, the Center for forensic expertise classified it as secret. For some reason, Russian experts are proud of their methods, and ours are hiding!

– Do you attribute the appeal of the Ministry of Information to you to the new President coming to power?

– I attribute this not so much to his coming as to his (I clarify that this is my most optimistic option for the future) intentions to really protect and strengthen freedom of speech. The decriminalization of libel is the requirement of the OSCE, the Human Rights Committee, the UN Human Rights Council, and UNESCO. The requirement was made many years, but Kazakhstan, each time reporting on the situation with human rights, continues to receive them. Maybe Tokaev wants to curtsy towards these international organizations and our civil society? Well, let’s see …