Security agents seize hospitalized editor
New York, January 7, 2009–Kazakh authorities should immediately release Ramazan Yesergepov, ailing editor of the independent weekly Alma-Ata Info, who was seized from an Almaty hospital on Tuesday by government agents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Attacks on the Press 2007: Europe Analysis
Rewriting the Law to Make Journalism a CrimeBy Nina OgnianovaIn its 17 years on the air, Moscow-based Ekho Moskvy Radio has enjoyed, by Russian standards, extraordinary editorial independence. Nearly alone among Russian broadcasters in its critical approach, the station employs some of the country’s most outspoken journalists, who produce in-depth reporting on the most sensitive…
Attacks on the Press 2007: Kazakhstan
KAZAKHSTAN President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his administration played down the country’s troubling press freedom and human rights record as they successfully pursued chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Vienna-based human rights monitoring body.
Prosecutor shuts down two Web sites
New York, June 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on prosecutors in the Kazakh financial capital, Almaty, to rescind their decision to close the Web sites of the weekly newspaper Karavan and the online news agency Kazakhstan Today. On Monday, the prosecutor general ordered the indefinite closure of Karavan’s Web site for a May…
Prosecutor suspends television station and newspaper
New York, May 25, 2007—A court in the financial capital, Almaty, ordered the immediate suspension of the television station Kommerchesky Televizionny Kanal (KTK) and the weekly newspaper Karavan on Thursday for alleged violations of Kazakh media laws. “Kazakh prosecutors are selectively using vague legal provisions to silence media outlets,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said.…
In Kazakhstan, reporter disappears after writing critical articles
New York, April 18, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply worried about the fate of investigative reporter Oralgaisha Omarshanova who has been missing since March 30. Colleagues believe Omarshanova’s disappearance is related to her journalism for the Astana-based independent weekly Zakon i Pravosudiye (Law and Justice), whose anti-corruption department she directed, local press reports…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Kazakhstan
KAZAKHSTAN President Nursultan Nazarbayev strengthened his government’s control of the news media amid a political crisis driven by the February assassination of prominent opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbayev. Ten low-level government officials and security agents were soon charged and convicted in the killing, but members of the opposition Naghyz Ak Zhol party said government involvement reached…
Officials harass independent newspaper in Uralsk
New York, January 29, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing harassment of a popular newspaper in western Kazakhstan which exposed local government corruption. The independent bi-weekly Uralskaya Nedelya has been subjected to retaliation from government officials since it began a series on corruption last July, Editor-in-Chief Tamara Yeslyamova told CPJ. Three printing companies…
Independent reporter convicted of defaming president
JANUARY 22, 2007 Posted February 6, 2007 Kaziz Toguzbayev, Kub LEGAL ACTION Judge Natalya Rusakova of the Bostandyksky Court in the Kazakh financial capital, Almaty, sentenced reporter Toguzbayev to a two-year suspended sentence under Article 316 of the criminal code for “insulting the honor and dignity” of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, according to CPJ sources and…