US embassy cable - 05ALMATY1595

UNCLAS  ALMATY 001595 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE), DRL/IRF (NHEWETT),and DRL/PHD 
(PDAVIS) 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, PHUM, PINR, KZ, POLITICAL 
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTANI PARLIAMENT CONSIDERS TROUBLING PACKAGE 
OF NATIONAL SECURITY AMENDMENTS ON NATIONAL SECURITY 
 
Ref: A) Almaty 1501, B) Almaty 1559 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: The Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) 
is currently considering a set of national security 
amendments that continues the regressive trend of the recent 
Law on Extremism and amendments to the Elections Law.  The 
draft legislation would set new limits on, inter alia, 
freedom of association and assembly, freedom of the press, 
freedom of peaceful expression of religious belief, and 
privacy rights.  Kazakhstani government officials have 
publicly and privately defended this wave of restrictions as 
necessary to ensure national security.  Legal experts 
generally agree, however, that the draft legislation is for 
the most part duplicative, and gives unnecessarily broad, 
ambiguously-defined powers to the government at the expense 
of citizens' rights.  END SUMMARY 
 
TIMELINE 
-------- 
2. (SBU) The National Security amendments were drafted by 
the Ministry of Justice and delivered to the Mazhilis on 
February 24 for review. The Mazhilis Committee on 
International Affairs, Defense and Security is currently 
discussing the package and voting on changes.  There are 
reports that debate on these amendments will be heard during 
the joint meeting of the Mazhilis and the Senate on April 
26, effectively putting them on a fast-track. 
 
SCOPE OF THE AMENDMENTS 
----------------------- 
3. (SBU) Due to the level of alarm among human rights 
observers in Kazakhstan, ODIHR rushed to produce an 
assessment of the draft amendments.  The assessment, 
released on April 18, states that the national security 
amendments lack a "thematic focus," and are rife with the 
type of definitional ambiguities noted in the Extremism Law 
and Election Law amendments.  The package contains 
amendments to the following: the Criminal Code, the Code of 
Criminal Procedure, the Code of Civil Procedure, the 
Administrative Code, the Law on State Registration of Legal 
Entities ("Registration Law"), the Law on Administrative 
Control over Persons Released from Jails, the Law on 
Political Parties, the Law on Mass Media, the Law on Non- 
Commercial Organizations ("NCO Law") and the Law on 
Religious Freedom and Religious Associations ("Religion 
Law").  In all, there are more than 100 amended subsections 
spread out over 22 separate articles within the laws above. 
 
FREEDOM OF RELIGION 
------------------- 
4. (SBU) The amendments contain many troubling provisions. 
The most serious would impose restrictions on previously 
tolerated religious activity such as education and 
missionary work.  The draft amendments would also give 
courts broader powers to suspend the activities of religious 
groups and ultimately "dissolve" those groups. Under the 
proposed changes, religious groups would be required to 
register with the government, as would foreign missionaries, 
whose activities would be limited.  There are many 
ambiguities in the amendments and most material terms are 
undefined.  Both clerical and nonclerical religious 
education would come under tighter state control and all 
facilities offering religious education would be required to 
register. Under an amendment to the Administrative Code, 
participation in or contribution to an unregistered 
religious organization would be a fineable offense. 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES 
----------------- 
 
5. (SBU) Under new amendments to the Administrative Code, 
Political Parties would be forbidden from receiving funding 
from foreign organizations or individuals; foreign donors 
would be liable to fines.  Political parties would be 
require to publish an annual financial statement and the 
heads of noncompliant parties would be personally liable. 
Participation in or contributing money to an unregistered 
political party, or any unregistered public association, 
would be illegal and incur a fine. 
 
 
6. (SBU) Proposed amendments to the Political Party Law 
would give broader latitude for the GOK to deny registration 
of a party.  Registration would be refused if the party 
violated legal procedures for establishing a party or has 
not submitted a list of party members and a list of 
constituent branch offices with an organizational chart and 
a party would be barred from reapplication for three months. 
The power to suspend a registered political party's 
activities would be extended to the procuracy, pending 
decision by a court.  In addition to the grounds already 
enumerated in the Political Party Law, registered parties 
would be subject to liquidation for accepting prohibited 
contributions.  Any donations to political parties found by 
a court to be prohibited would become state assets. 
Political parties would be required to issue an annual 
financial statement to be published in mass media. 
 
PRIVACY RIGHTS 
-------------- 
 
7. (SBU) An amendment to the Law on Operative Investigative 
Activity would broaden the authority of allows law 
enforcement officials to intercept communications by giving 
them the right to search internet, wireless and all other 
networked data pursuant to a write from a procurator., 
within the scope of their investigative powers.  Currently, 
law enforcement officials are able to intercept written and 
telephonic communications intercepts by law enforcement are 
done pursuant to a writ from a procurator, not a court; in 
cases of "emergency," law enforcement can proceed with the 
intercept and alert the Procuracy within three days.  These 
procedures would presumably apply to networkedelectronic 
intercepts as well.  Under a separate amendment, 
iIndividuals convicted of "crimes of an extremist nature" 
would be subject to administrative control after their 
release from prison., under a separate amendment. 
 
MEDIA AND FREE SPEECH 
--------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) Amendments to the Mass Media Law prohibit the 
disclosure of state secrets, as well as publication of 
"propaganda," articles praising or justifying terrorism and 
extremism, articles promoting drugs or drug use, and 
pornography.  Publication of such information would be 
grounds for suspension of the broadcast or print media 
outlet.  A further amendment grants procurators the right to 
suspend media publication, though the right to close a media 
outlet remains vested in the courts and at the election of 
the outlet's owners.  Grounds for closure include the 
following: promoting violent regime change, "violating the 
integrity of the Republic of Kazakhstan," undermining 
national security, justifying extremism or terrorism, and 
failing to remedy issues causing a prior suspension. 
 
NGOs AND OTHER NON-COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 
------------------------------------------- 
 
9. (SBU) An amendment to the Law on Non-Commericial 
Organizations (NCOs) requires financial reporting from those 
receiving funding from foreign governments, foreign 
organizations, foreign citizens and stateless persons.  Non- 
governmental organizations (NGOs) and other NCOs that are 
branches or international or foreign organizations would be 
require to publish an annual report listing their founders, 
property assets and how owned, along with income and expense 
statements. 
COMMENT: As written, this amendment appears to cover 
international organizations such as OSCE and IOM. END 
COMMENT 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
10. (SBU) It is not yet clear whether the Parliament will 
heed ODIHR's warnings regarding the inconsistency of many of 
the amendments with Kazakhstan's OSCE commitments. The OSCE 
is organizing a roundtable discussion of the amendments in 
Astana on April 22 to highlight concerns.  The fact that the 
 
 
package is reportedly on the legislative fast track, similar 
to the handling of the recent election law amendments (ref 
A), may well indicate that the GOK intends to forge ahead 
despite international concerns.  Post's high-level 
discussions (ref B) have revealed a clear sense that in the 
wake of events in Kyrgyzstan, the Kazakhstani government 
perceives the need to take action to ensure national 
security and head off any attempts to destabilize the 
country.     The OSCE/ODIHR has weighed in already on these 
amendments, providing a detailed legal analysis that 
highlights inconsistencies with Kazakhstan's OSCE 
commitments.  Whether the GOK Parliament will ignore these 
recommendations, as it disregarded OSCE/ODIHR comments on 
several recent pieces of legislation, remains to be seen. 
Kazakhstani officials have publicly and privately grumbled 
that "all anyone wants to talk about is the Human Dimension" 
of OSCE, and MPs have publicly called OSCE/ODIHR's 
assessment of a recent law an insult to Kazakhstan's 
sovereignty.  A Kazakhstani official recently commented to 
an EmbOff that "security is everything now." This most 
recent package of legislation is an unfortunate confirmation 
that "security" is being pursued at the expense of 
protecting basic human rights and fulfilling Kazakhstan's 
international commitments. 
 
1011. (U) Dushanbe minimize considered. 
 
ORDWAY 
 
 
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