KAZAKHSTAN: WAS THAT AN INSULT? OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 002407

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SOCI KDEM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: WAS THAT AN INSULT? OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER
FACES FIVE COURT PROCEEDINGS


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: On December 1, Charge d'Affaires met with
Yermurat Bapi, Editor-in-Chief of Taszhargan newspaper. Taszhargan
is a weekly opposition paper printed in Russian and Kazakh with a
total circulation of 72,000. Bapi reported that since September
2008, the newspaper has experienced many judicial problems and is
currently involved in five lawsuits. Bapi said he did not think
that all five cases involved the highest levels of political power
in Kazkahstan, but he suspected that some emanated from State
Secretary Saudebayev's level. In his opinion, the country's
leadership "would not have behaved this way" before Kazakhstan was
granted chairmanship of the OSCE. Bapi doubted that President
Nazarbayev was aware of the cases, since he did not think the
President would risk the reputation of the country "just to defend
one Member of Parliament." END SUMMARY.

CASE NO.1: INSULT TO A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT


3. (SBU) The first case involves Member of Parliament Romin
Madinov. A story printed in Taszhargan this spring referred to
Madinov as a "latifundist," which roughly translates to "land baron"
in English. Shortly after the story was run, Madinov wrote a
response letter, which the newspaper printed in full. Bapi thought
the matter was resolved until Madinov filed a civil lawsuit against
Taszhargan claiming approximately $3 million in moral compensation
for the alleged insult. Bapi said "the word itself was not an
insult and he told the court as much." A decision in this case is
expected in January 2009.

CASE NO. 2: INSULT TO THE LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENT


4. (SBU) Bapi also told the Charge that earlier this year, four
policemen from the Almaty oblast police approached Taszhargan to
report that their superiors were taking bribes. The policemen asked
to remain anonymous. Bapi claims the paper followed up by speaking
with other police officers from the department and with those who
had been fired recently. Bapi says the paper heard similar stories
from other policemen in the oblast and ran a series of articles on
corruption and the abuse of power in the oblast police department.
The police department is now claiming approximately $416,000 in
compensation for insulting the dignity and honor of the police
department, though Bapi's defense is that the articles reported on
specific corrupt individuals and not the department as a whole.
Therefore, in Bapi's opinion, the department cannot sue the paper.
The trial in this case began on December 2.

CASES NOS. 3 AND 4: INSULTS TO THE KAZAKH NATIONAL IDENTITY


5. (SBU) The third and fourth cases involve an inter-ethnic
incident in Malybai village in Almaty oblast during which two ethnic
Uighurs killed an ethnic Kazakh. According to Bapi, Taszhargan
reported the facts of the incident without any commentary. However,
the journalist who wrote the story quoted a local resident using a
pejorative word for ethnic Kazakhs, "manqa qazaq," which roughly
translates to "snotty Kazakh" in English. As a result, Bapi says
the Deputy Governor of the region has accused the paper of
undermining the dignity and reputation of ethnic Kazakhs. However,
Bapi claims the paper was just reporting on the events of an
incident and that the pejorative word was expressed by a local
resident and not the journalist. Two suits were filed relating to
this incident, of which the first is an administrative case against
the paper and the second is a criminal case against the journalist.
A ruling is expected on these cases in mid-December. (NOTE:
Kazakhstan's legal code places strict restrictions on speech that
connotes racial, ethnic, or religious discord. In a somewhat
similar case, the courts ruled to suspend temporarily the activities
of a website for failing to monitor pejorative comments in one of
its online articles. In the Kazakh context, this may equate to
"hate speech." END NOTE.)

CASE NO.5: INSULTS TO A KAZAKH NATIONALIST MOVEMENT


6. (SBU) The final case involves a dispute between the opposition
party Azat and the leaders of the Kazakh national movement that
carries the same name. (NOTE: The Azat Kazakh movement was active
in the early 1990s but has grown dormant in recent years. In 2008,
the True Ak Zhol political party renamed itself "Azat," which

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translates to "liberty" in English. END NOTE.) According to Bapi,
leaders of the nationalist movement wanted to know why True Ak Zhol
decided to take the name of their movement. In response, Taszhargan
ran a story stating the Azat movement had done nothing in the past
ten years and should be happy the name had been revived. The
article stated the nationalist movement was "like a dead body being
revived." The Azat Kazakh nationalist movement has filed a
defamation case against the paper.


7. (SBU) When asked why so many lawsuits were being filed against
Taszhargan, Bapi cited the following reasons: 1) the paper's
coverage of "Kazakhgate" (Giffen) bribery case in the United States;
2) Taszhargan's publication of transcripts of phone conversations
between high-level government officials provided by the President's
former son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev; and 3) the possibility that certain
members of President Nazarbayev's inner circle want to please the
President by punishing the paper. (NOTE: While other papers
published excerpts of the Rakhat Aliyev tapes, only Taszhargan
published the full transcripts. These tapes were derived from
national security committee (KNB) wire taps allegedly stolen by
Aliyev associates when he was Deputy Director of the KNB (2000-01).
END NOTE).


8. (SBU) When queried about the Government of Kazakhstan's response
to the publication of the Rakhat Aliyev tapes, Bapi said that
approximately one month ago, he received a warning from the court to
stop printing "a criminal's story." Bapi states the paper stopped
publishing the Aliyev stories after this call and noted two of the
five court cases were filed after the Aliyev tapes were published.
(NOTE: Aliyev has been tried and convicted in absentia for various
crimes, including kidnapping and treason. END NOTE).


9. (SBU) Bapi told the Charge that in 10 years of the paper's
existence, there have been six attempts to close Taszhargan. He
also informed the Charge of other recent problems. For example, he
alleged that shots have been fired at the Taszhargan offices twice,
the paper's employees have been under surveillance, and that in May,
Bapi's car exploded. Bapi has been convicted three times, including
one conviction under Article 318 of Kazakhstan's criminal code,
which prohibits insulting the dignity and honor of the President.
He received one year of probation and one year in prison, but was
given amnesty due to the 10th anniversary of parliament. After the
third conviction, he was banned from serving as an Editor-in-Chief
of any newspaper, therefore Bapi refers to himself as the
"Reader-in-Chief" of Taszhargan.


10. (SBU) Bapi claimed that one of "the tricks that the Government
of Kazkahstan uses against the mass media is to employ a variety of
laws to prosecute newspapers and journalists, including the
defamation codes and civic, criminal, and administration laws." The
fifth case is being tried under the defamation codes of Kazakhstani
law.


11. (SBU) NOTE: Bapi originally had said that he would ask the
Ambassador to intervene on his behalf. He told Charge, however,
that he now will appeal to Vice President-elect Biden after the
inauguration. Bapi stated that he has met twice previously with
Biden at meetings arranged by Akezhan Kazhegeldin. Kazhegeldin is a
former Prime Minister reportedly in exile in London who has been
convicted in absentia of corruption. It is widely believed that
many Kazakhstani leaders from the immediate post-independence period
were involved in some level of corruption. END NOTE.


12. (SBU) COMMENT: This case illustrates the existing freedom, and
limitations, of the Kazazkhstani press. There is a lively print
media, which frequently criticizes the government. On the other
hand, editors understand that there are red lines they cannot cross.
The Aliyev case, and particularly the wire tap tapes, are one of
these lines. It is interesting that Bapi has been able to continue
publishing, despite coming very close to -- if not crossing - these
lines. This method of using legal pressure is exemplary of a more
nuanced way to communicate those limits to the press. It is
interesting that even Bapi felt that this pressure did not come
directly from the President, but rather from "bad advisors." END
COMMENT.

MILAS