Information Ministry orders closure of opposition weekly
New York, May 10, 2005 – CPJ condemns the closure of the leading opposition weekly Respublika Delovoye Obozreniye (Republic Business Review) by The Kazakh Culture, Information, and Sports Ministry. Last Thursday in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial capital, Galina Dyrdina, the weekly’s deputy editor told a press conference that editorial staff will not publish the paper’s next…
Attacks on the Press 2004: Europe and Central Asia Analysis
Overview by Alex Lupis Authoriatarian rulers strengthened their hold on power in many former Soviet republics in 2004. Their secretive, centralized governments aggressively suppressed all forms of independent activity, from journalism and human rights monitoring to religious activism and political opposition.
Restrictions lifted against journalist
New York, August 17, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pleased that restrictions have been lifted against journalist Sergei Duvanov, who was released from prison on probation in January. Yesterday, August 16, a district court in Kazakhstan’s industrial capital, Almaty, lifted the restrictions, which included handing over a portion of his salary to the…
Journalist’s prison sentence commuted
New York, April 27, 2004-The prison sentence of Kazakh journalist Vladimir Mikhailov, director of Rifma Ltd. media company and founder of the opposition weekly Diapazon, was commuted yesterday into 180 hours of community service, according to the Almaty-based media foundation Adil Soz.
President vetoes restrictive draft media bill
New York, April 22, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s decision to veto a controversial media bill passed by both chambers of Kazakhstan’s Parliament earlier this year. In a speech today at the Third Eurasian Media Forum—a three-day summit of about 400 journalists, analysts, politicians, researchers, and scientists from more than…
CPJ concerned about deteriorating press freedom conditions
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is concerned about deteriorating press freedom conditions in Kazakhstan, including the politicized legal prosecution of independent journalists.
Attacks on the Press 2003: Kazakhstan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev continued his intense persecution of Kazakhstan’s independent media in 2003, silencing government critics and sidelining opposition to his autocratic policies and control over the country’s billion-dollar oil and gas industries. Anyone who criticizes the president, his family, and his associates can be criminally prosecuted, and the government’s growing persecution of the media…