OSCE FIELD MISSION WEIGHS IN ON DCK CASE

UNCLAS ALMATY 000153

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/RPM- H. TROUTMAN AND S. ARCHER
ALSO FOR EUR/CACEN- J. MUDGE
ALSO FOR DRL/PHD- P. DAVIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINR PGOV PREL PHUM IO KZ POLITICAL
SUBJECT: OSCE FIELD MISSION WEIGHS IN ON DCK CASE

SENSITIVE

Ref: A)STATE 3793 B)04 ALMATY 5052 C)ALMATY 0083


1. (SBU) On January 13, OSCE field officer Bjorn Halvarsson
told Astana Poloff that OSCE Ambassador Vikki had delivered
a statement on January 11 to Kazakhstani MFA authorities
(NFI) on the judicial dissolution of opposition party
Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK) (See Refs B-C).
While Halvarsson did not share the text of the statement, he
characterized the message as expressing concern that the
court's decision appeared to be contrary to the rule of law
and did not reflect well on Kazakhstan's OSCE commitments.


2. (SBU) Comment. Judging by Halvarsson's tone and
demeanor, it is unlikely that the OSCE demarche was as
forceful as our own on DCK (Ref A). If the OSCE has
appeared in Kazakhstani eyes merely to be going through the
motions on DCK, it almost certainly will feed Astana's
perception that there may not be much of a price to pay for
dissolving the party. Halvarsson did note that the OSCE
warned the GOK of "consequences" (NFI),but he did not
elaborate on whether the GOK was given specific examples.
End Comment.


3. Dushanbe minimize considered.
ASQUINO