Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ASTANA1145
2007-05-02 00:31:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Astana
Cable title:  

KAZAKHSTAN - ASTANA MEDIA NOTES FOR APRIL

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KPAO KDEM KZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2722
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHTA #1145/01 1220031
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020031Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9297
INFO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1726
RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 2201
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001145 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, SCA/CEN (MO'MARA),SCA/PPD (JKAMP),DRL/PHD
(CKUCHTA-HELBLING)

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KPAO KDEM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN - ASTANA MEDIA NOTES FOR APRIL

Ref: A) Astana 918, B) 06 Astana 2074

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001145

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, SCA/CEN (MO'MARA),SCA/PPD (JKAMP),DRL/PHD
(CKUCHTA-HELBLING)

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KPAO KDEM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN - ASTANA MEDIA NOTES FOR APRIL

Ref: A) Astana 918, B) 06 Astana 2074


1. (U) Summary: The Mazhilis has accepted for consideration a draft
law on mass media. The draft was developed by the Congress of
Journalists, chaired by presidential daughter and Mazhilis
representative Dariga Nazarbayeva, in collaboration with media
advocacy NGOs, the National Association of Broadcasters, and the
Union of Journalists. Minister of Information Yermukhamet
Yertysbayev said that the ministry is recalling its draft law on
licensing print houses and that it is ready to liberalize media
legislation. Nazarbayeva asked the Supreme Court to transfer the
appeal for Galina Vybornova, accused of slander, to the city court
of Almaty. She also sent an inquiry to the Procurator General's
office regarding tax evasion charges pending against Irina
Petrushova, currently living in exile in Moscow, and the defacto
editor-in-chief of the opposition weekly Respublika. The newspaper
Vremya filed a slander suit against Yertysbayev, but the suit has
been suspended until the paper provides an address and tax
identification number for the minister. End summary.

Nazarbayeva Submits Draft Media Law to Parliament
-------------- --------------


2. (U) Pro-government newswire Kazakhstan Today reported April 4
that the Congress of Journalists had completed a draft law
liberalizing restrictions on media. The draft law would ease
restrictions on media registration, decriminalize libel, tighten
regulations on media monopolization, and regulate auctions of TV and
radio frequencies. The draft retains provisions that protect the
president from insult.


3. (U) The draft has been in development for several years (Ref B)
with input from media advocacy NGOs, the Congress of Journalists led
by Dariga Nazarbayeva, the National Association of Broadcasters, and
the Union of Journalists. According to an April 18 Interfax wire
report, Mazhilis deputies Nazarbayeva, Sergey Kiselev, Dariya
Klebanova, and others sponsored the bill and the Mazhilis bureau
consisting of the speaker, vice speaker, committee heads, and the
head of the Nur Otan political faction accepted it for
consideration.


Ambiguous Signals of Easing Restrictions on Media
-------------- --------------


4. (U) In addition to the relatively liberal draft media law,
Information Minister Yermukhamet Yertysbayev announced April 17 on
official Khabar TV's live "Betpe Bet" program that an interagency
commission had decided to recall the draft law on licensing print
houses because the measure had been so unpopular. The minister also
noted that the controversial law would be put aside "for the time
being" while Kazakhstan pursues democratic reforms and the
chairmanship of the OSCE. He said the draft would have to be
re-considered later because a high quality print industry was a
condition for WTO accession.


5. (U) Several media reported on remarks Yertysbayev made on April
21 at the 6th Eurasia Media Forum where he expressed readiness to
liberalize the media legislation. "We are ready to introduce a
moratorium on distorting the truth, to release journalists from
criminal prosecution, and to implement a series of steps to
liberalize the legislation," the minister said. He also called for
the creation of a national journalist organization to establish an
ongoing dialogue between journalists and the information ministry.
Such an organization, he said, should draft and enforce a code of
reporting ethics among journalists so that media could maintain
professional standards of integrity. The organization would also
arbitrate disagreements that arose between the ministry and the
journalist community.


6. (U) Some local media advocates doubted the need for yet another
advocacy group and also doubted whether Yertysbayev really had the
interests of journalists at heart. Askar Shomshekov, director of
the Pavlodar Center for Regional Journalism Support, commented in an
April 27 article on The Institute for War and Peace Reporting
website, that any new organization should act only as an
intermediary to make it easier for the journalist community to have
a say in the lawmaking process. Tamara Kaleyeva, head of the Adil
Soz (Free Speech) NGO, said in the same article that Yertysbayev
only wants to "strengthen the voice of the authorities." Rozlana
Taukina, head of the media defense group Zhurnalisty v Bedi
(Journalists in Trouble),said the proposal was a sign that
pro-government groups were struggling among themselves for control
of the media. (As noted in Ref A, the Congress of Journalists
headed by Nazarbayeva and the Union of Journalists led by her close
ally Seitkazy Matayev have called for Yertysbayev's resignation).

Liberalization Motivated by OSCE Aspirations?
--------------

ASTANA 00001145 002 OF 002




7. (U) Tamara Kaleyeva also commented in an April 20 Eurasianet
interview on the new draft media law and steps taken by the
information minister to ease restrictions on the media. She said
the draft law indicated that Kazakhstan is now on the threshold of
"real, practical steps" necessary for Kazakhstan's OSCE
chairmanship. She characterized the legislation as "not ideal, but
realistic" and said that retaining the defamation provisions
regarding the president and other top officials was "a concession"
NGO activists had to make to include other liberalizing provisions.

Nazarbayeva Champions Embattled Journalists
--------------


8. (U) Pro-government newswire Kazakhstan Today reported that on
April 4 that during a plenary session Mazhilis Deputy Nazarbayeva
presented a parliamentary inquiry to Supreme Court Chairman Kairat
Mami, asking that the appeal of journalist Galina Vybornova be
transferred from the Zhambyl oblast court to the Almaty city court.
The judge for the Zhambyl oblast had filed a libel suit against
Vybornova for her articles in pro-government Ekspress K alleging
ties between him and a criminal group. The district court of the
city of Taraz found Vybornova guilty of libel and fined her the
equivalent of about $1790. Nazarbayeva noted the libel suit is a
civil case filed by an individual and as such cannot be re-examined
by the Supreme Court.


9. (U) Nazarbayeva presented another inquiry to the Procurator
General's office regarding Irina Petrushova, editor-in-chief of the
opposition weekly Respublika newspaper. Nazarbayeva asked for an
official response explaining the case against Irina Petrushova and
whether Petrushova were free to come back to Kazakhstan to
participate in journalistic and other public events. As director
general of Respublika's owner, the PR Consulting Company, Petrushova
was charged with evading 1,695,000 tenge ($12,100) in taxes for the
years 1999-2000. She was also charged with failing to comply with a
ruling of the specialized inter-district economic court in Almaty in
March 2002. Nazarbayeva noted that the tax audit in February 2002
showed that PR Consulting had underpaid some taxes and overpaid
others, and thus owed nothing.

Vremya Lawsuit Against Information Minister Suspended
-------------- --------------


10. (U) The progressive Vremya reported on April 21 that it had
filed suit against Yertysbayev in Astana's Saryarkinskiy district
court for criticizing the professional skills of its journalists in
a March 9 interview with Respublika and a subsequent appearance on
Channel 31. Vremya asked the court to order Yertysbayev to issue a
public apology to Vremya's journalists and editor-in-chief on
Channel 31 and in the Respublika and Vremya newspapers. The civil
lawsuit was accepted by the court and passed to the judge for
review. On April 28, Vremya reported that the court had suspended
its suit because the paper failed to indicate the address of
Yertysbayev's apartment and his tax identification number. The
court has given Vremya 16 days to provide this information.

ORDWAY