Published on 25 September 2009
2 September 2009 - Civil society presses for jailed editor’s release
15 July 2009 - Call for revision of repressive Internet law as it goes into effect
1 July 2009 - Government honours journalists but still holding newspaper editor after six months
Since it replaced the leading independent newspaper Respublika, on 18 September 2009, the newspaper Moya Respublika has come under ever increasing pressure from the authorities.
Printers in the capital Almaty all refused to print the new title because of the seizure of copies of Respublika last Friday. “Kometa S”, the only one that agreed to do it, immediately found itself subjected to escalating harassment.
Financial police from the department responsible for financial crime and corruption (DBEKP) turned up at the premises of “Kometa S” on 18 September and without producing any documents or specifying the reasons for the investigation, proceeded to take away computers containing its financial records. This was followed early evening by an unannounced visit from tax inspectors who began a full tax investigation and put the premises under seal.
Then the financial police and the KNB (formerly KGB) arrived at the printer’s premises yesterday evening while the weekly Moya Respublika was being printed, seized copies that had been printed and threatened to do the same with copies of the opposition party, "Alga", publication. Journalists and the printing house’s lawyer were denied access to the building. Several witnesses said they saw incidents of assault and the arrest of three typographers.
Despite this, staff from Moya Respublika managed to distribute copies of the newspaper today that were produced on a copying machine. The management said in a press release that they were determined to continue publishing “whether in another format, by photo-copier, or on a paper-clip”
18.09.2009 - Daily singled out in new attack on independent press
The entire print run of Kazakhstan’s leading opposition daily, Respublika, was seized today in Almaty while a court froze the bank accounts of its owner and editor in execution of a 9 September court ruling ordering the newspaper to pay 60 million tenge (275,500 euros) in libel damages to the state-controlled bank BTA.
“We are deeply shocked by this new attack on the Kazakh press and we join the staff of Respublika and local NGOs in condemning this political decision,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“This is an attempt to bring one of the country’s leading independent newspapers to its knees, one that did not hold back from criticising the government," the press freedom organisation added. “That is all the more obvious as the court ruling had not yet taken effect. The newspaper has until 24 September to appeal.”
The libel suit was prompted by a 6 March article about the financial difficulties of BTA, in which the government had acquired a 75 per cent stake the previous month. The suit named the newspaper, its editor and the head of its editorial board and claimed that the article had damaged its “professional reputation” and caused material losses. Respublika has been forced to close several times in the past and each time it has reappeared under a new name. Shortly after today’s issue was confiscated at the printers in the early hours of the morning, it was reprinted under a new name: Moya Respublika – fakty, sobytia, lyudi.
Reporters Without Borders added: “In times of financial crisis, the unrestricted publication of economic information is more important than ever. Kazakhstan has sent its partners a very bad signal just three and a half months before its takes over at the head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.”
He is the editor of Erk, the last opposition newspaper in Uzbekistan until it was banned by the authorities in 1993, and he was jailed on 18 August 1999 in the wave of repression after the failed assassination attempt on President Islam Karimov in Tashkent on 16 February 1999.
