31 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
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.
18 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
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.
19 Oct 2010 | Index Index, minipost
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.
15 Apr 2010 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
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.
