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Legal Action
January 23
Sergei Vasilyev, IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION
Vasilyev, formerly a reporter for the Kazakstani edition of the Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, was arrested and placed in detention. On July 10, he was found guilty of libeling a public official by the Medeus District Court in Almaty, the Kazak capital. He was sentenced to five months in prison, a term less than the time he had already spent in pretrial detention, and released. On Aug. 10, 1994, Vasilyev had published a brief item alleging that the ex-governor of the East Kazakstan region had been detained by Moscow customs authorities for attempting to smuggle gold across the border. The item was based on an account from a source in the KNB (Kazakstan National Security), but the information turned out to be false, reportedly planted by other officials in an attempt to discredit the governor. After Vasilyev was notified that he was under investigation for criminal libel, he returned to Russia in 1995, even though he had signed a statement promising not to leave Kazakstan. On Jan. 23, 1996, when Vasilyev returned to Kazakstan at the request of his editors, he was promptly arrested in his apartment in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. He spent about two months in a local prison without charge and was then transferred to Almaty, where he spent more than three months in an isolation cell until his trial. Argumenty i Fakty did not rehire Vasilyev, and he has been unable to find work in journalism since his release from prison.
March 10
Erik Nurshin, formerly of Dozhivyom do Ponedelnika, LEGAL ACTION
A criminal libel case was opened against Nurshin, a prominent Russian journalist who lives in the capital of Almaty and had edited the now-defunct newspaper Dozhivyom do Ponedelnika (Let's Survive Until Monday). The investigation was in connection with the newspaper's criticism of the chairman of Kazakstan's Supreme Court and of law-enforcement officials, and its reporting of rape accusations against the governor of the Dzambul region. Article 191-1 of the Kazakstani Penal Code essentially prevents reporters from investigating allegations of official corruption or criminal acts until after a court renders a decision on the allegations. In July, authorities closed the case "due to lack of evidence." Dozhivyom do Ponedelnika stopped publishing in December 1995 after authorities, unhappy with an article blaming high officials for Kazakstan's agricultural failures, ordered the founder of the paper to shut it down, and the founder fled the country. Eventually editor Nurshin and his staff from Dozhivyom do Ponedelnika started up a weekly television program called "Versiya" on TV M, a commercial channel. Although the criminal case against Nurshin was dropped, he and his television show continued to come under pressure from officials and the government press. By year's end the station was facing closure.
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