Posts Tagged ‘Kazakhstan’
March 15th, 2012
A union lawyer freed from prison by authorities in
Kazakhstan on 7 March has been
banned from resuming her activism. Natalia Sokolova was found guilty of “inciting social discord” and “actively participating in illegal gatherings” after speaking out on issues such as wage disparity and defended oil workers’ rights. On 6 March, Sokolova’s six year prison sentence was commuted to a three year suspended sentence, but the activist is banned from “civic” activity and from holding office in a public association for three years.
January 25th, 2012
Igor Vinyavsky, editor of the Almaty-based independent weekly Vzglyad, was
detained on Monday evening in an ongoing crackdown by
Kazakhstan‘s National Security Committee (KNB) on critical media and opposition activists. Two groups of KNB agents simultaneously raided Vinyavsky’s apartment and Vzglyad’s offices, confiscating all reporting equipment. Vinyavsky was detained following the newsroom raid. The crackdown has also involved a raid on independent broadcaster Stan TV.
August 31st, 2011
A rights activist and RFE/RL correspondent in
Kazakhstan is being sued for libel after she alleged children at a special needs school were being abused. In an article published in a local newspaper in May,
Alima Abdirova said children at the boarding school in the western city of Aqtobe were subject to beatings and neglect. Abdirova is due to appear in court in the city on 27 August after the former director of the school took legal action. She is being sued as a member of the independent Kazakh Bureau for Human Rights group, and not as a journalist.
August 18th, 2011
Imprisoned journalist
Ramazan Esergepov’s request for release on parole was
rejected for the fourth time yesterday by an appeal commission in Taraz prison, southern
Kazakhstan, although under Kazakh law a prisoner can be freed conditionally after serving a third of their sentence. The former owner and editor of the weekly Alma-Ata Info, he was sentenced to three years in prison on 8 August 2009 on a charge of gathering and publishing information that was considered a state secret. He was arrested on 6 January 2009 after publishing an article implicating the National Security Committee (KNB) in influence-trafficking.
October 19th, 2010
Microsoft is
extending its program of giving free software licences to non-profit organisations. The initiative was first applied to Russia, after it was discovered that authorities were using software piracy inquiries as a method of suppressing independent media outlets and advocacy groups. The program will now include 500,000 NGOs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Prior to the announcement NGOs could only obtain a free licence if they were aware of the program and followed the necessary procedure. According to
Microsoft’s official blog announcement, the unilateral licence will last until 2012.
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Tags: Tags: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, censorship, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Microsoft, ngo, Russia, software, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam,
April 15th, 2010
Opera has become
Kazakhstan‘s most popular web browser in the country, because it allows users to bypass internet censorship. According to Web Analytics firm StatCounter, the browser increased its market share to 32 per cent in March. Last year,
Kazakhstan introduced a law allowing local courts to block access to web sites whose content has been deemed “illegal”. The new edition of Opera introduced last year, Opera 10, allows users to view otherwise inaccessible web pages using its Opera Turbo feature designed to speed up browsing over slow connections.
January 12th, 2010
Three press freedom activists who organised a flash-mob protest in support of jailed Kazakh journalists have been put on trial. The group – which includes Raushan Esergepova, the wife of the jailed newspaper editor Ramazan Esergepov – are accused of holding an authorised demonstration, they have
rejected the charges as politically motivated. Kazakhstan’s
record on press freedom has come under increasing scrutiny as the country assumes the chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
November 26th, 2009
Kazakhstan’s parliament passed a new privacy bill on 19 November which threatens the ability of journalists to carry out investigative work. The bill forbids the publication of information relating to private lives, including those of public persons. It also gives the authorities the power to shut down publications and imprison journalists who violate standards of privacy. The bill now only needs President Nazarbayev’s approval to be adopted as law. It is thought that the new bill may be in reaction to the publication of a series of wire-tapped conversations between Nazarbayev and his aides in 2007.
Read more
here
