Kazakhstan: the activities of the Bureau for Human Rights were suspended

Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law was fined $ 5.5 thousand by the tax authorities, and its activities were suspended for 3 months. The reason was violations of the tax law.

As ACCA has already reported, in December last year, seven independent non-governmental organizations of Kazakhstan, which were receiving funding from foreign sources, reported that they received from the tax authorities the notifications of violations in filling out tax reporting forms, which just relate to the period of notification of receipt of funds from foreign sources and their spending.

As the Director of Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (KIBHR), the well-known human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis, explained then, non-governmental organizations didn’t evade taxes, didn’t spend funds for illegal purposes, didn’t commit any illegal actions. The only violation they were charged with was inaccuracies in filling out information forms.

“The current Code of Administrative Offenses provides for severe administrative penalties for revealing inaccuracies in filling out these forms. If the information is found to be unreliable, a non-profit organization faces a fine of more than $ 1000 and a suspension of activities for up to 3 months. In my opinion, the purpose of this attack is political, in order to paralyze the activities of these NGOs,” Zhovtis said.

As the representatives of non-governmental organizations noted at a special press conference, the reason for the tax attack lies in the parliamentary elections. The elections of deputies to the Lower chamber of the Parliament of Kazakhstan were held on January 10, 2021.

Activists and public figures consider that the Committee for National Security, with the help of such cavils, try to clear the field at the elections, so that there are no doubts about the honesty and fairness of the election process.

All seven organizations signed a petition in which they noted that “the purpose of this attack is political, to force them to fight off unfounded claims, to sue them or, in the worst case, to paralyze their activities for a while.”

The consideration of the claims of the State Revenue Department of Auezov district of Almaty city against the KIBHR was originally scheduled for the end of 2020. However, this process was reviewed every time. On January 25, a few hours before the end of the deadline set for the consideration of the protocols and the adoption of resolutions, the meeting took place.

As the employees of the Bureau explained to ACCA, since the statute of limitations for the presented “violations” had expired, the KIBHR filed a motion to terminate the proceedings, but was refused.

“As a result of consideration, the Bureau was fined 200 monthly calculation indices (1 MCI is equal to $ 6.9) for each of the four protocols. Thus, in total we were fined 800 MCI, in addition, the activity of our organization was suspended for three months – until April 15,” the KIBHR noted.

The Bureau also emphasized that the tax authority had acted according to a “template” that had already been applied to the public organization “Echo” (NGO “Echo” has been observing elections for about 20 years). Echo was fined 200 MCI ($ 1380), its activities were also suspended for 3 months. In addition, on January 25, according to the same scenario, the activities of the International Legal Initiative were suspended. This organization was fined 400 MCI ($ 2760). Another non-governmental organization “Erkindik kanaty” got off with only a fine.

“Within ten days, the Bureau for Human Rights will send a complaint against the decisions to the Department of State Revenues in the city of Almaty. Then, in case of refusal to satisfy, the courts will follow. During this period, the Bureau will continue to work as before,” the KIBHR noted.