US embassy cable - 05ALMATY153

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 
 
 
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