US embassy cable - 05ALMATY3924

UNCLAS  ALMATY 003924 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE), EUR/PPD (JBASEDOW), EUR/ACE 
(ESMITH/JMCKANE), DRL/PHD (CKUCHTA-HELBLING) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KPAO, KDEM, KZ, 2005 Election, POLITICAL 
SUBJECT:  ZERO TOLERANCE FOR KAZAKHSTAN'S OPPOSITION PRESS 
 
Ref:  A) Almaty 3453, B) Almaty 3790, C) Almaty 3861 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Harassment of opposition print media 
intensified in the three weeks leading up to start of the 
official campaign period October 25.  While print runs have 
increased, there have been incidents ranging from 
confiscation of the entire print run of one paper, to 
grabbing copies out of cars to prevent them from reaching 
newsstands.  More subtle and bureaucratic harassment has 
continued in the courts.  Public statements by GOK 
representatives present a stark contrast between the 
official policy on media coverage of the elections and 
actions carried out to harass opposition media.  It is not 
clear exactly where the orders to seize opposition 
newspapers are coming from, and the Presidential 
Administration admitted privately that there are sharply 
differing views on this among Nazarbayev's senior advisors. 
Some political analysts claim the authorities are behind 
the actions and suggest that government loyalists are once 
again over-fulfilling a plan for a big win on election day. 
First daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva threatened court action 
against any media that attempted to slander her father, the 
head of state, or their family.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
Progressive Website Navi.kz Loses Site 
-------------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) As reported Ref C, the well-known progressive 
Internet newspaper "Navigator" lost its site (navi.kz) 
following the trademark registration of its name by a 
person who shares a business address with the Khabar state 
TV channel.  Navigator editor-in-chief Yuriy Mizinov posted 
an account on his new site, www.mizinov.kz, about how 
navi.kz was taken offline.  According to Mizinov's account, 
on October 13, he received a letter from the administrator 
for the .kz Internet domain names, informing him that the 
navi.kz site would be taken offline for copyright 
violations.  The copyright complaint came from Sergey 
Bondertsev, who filed suit with the Almalinskiy District 
Court without notifying Mizinov or his staff.  Back in 
September, Bondertsev created a clone of the Navigator site 
and registered the name "Navigator" and variations such as 
"navi."  Mizinov then registered another domain, 
www.mizinov.net, and that site was blocked.  (The masthead 
of the site spells out "navi" in Morse code.)  When Mizinov 
and his lawyer met with the bailiff October 21 to find out 
why www.mizinov.net was being blocked, they were told that 
the court would monitor the site for a month for further 
trademark violations.  The site is back on the Internet via 
a proxy server after almost a week of being offline. 
 
Harassment and Confiscations Across the Regions 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
3. (U) On October 10, the opposition media and the media 
advocacy organization Adil Soz reported that Kaziz 
Toguzbayev, a correspondent of the opposition weekly Azat, 
was arrested in Almaty while covering a conference of the 
opposition association, People's Party Alga (Ahead).  Fifty- 
three conference participants were also arrested as they 
were marching to Republic Square to place flowers at the 
monument to Kazakhstan's independence.  The Almaty inter- 
district administrative court sentenced him to 5 days' 
detention for participating in an unauthorized march.  In 
protest, Toguzbayev went on a hunger strike for the period 
of his arrest.  No one was allowed to meet him at the 
detention facility.  (Note: On October 22 the registrar of 
the Justice Ministry suspended the registration application 
of the party, pending verification of the membership list. 
Party leader Asylbek Kozhakhmetov believes the move is a 
stalling tactic to delay a final decision on registration. 
End Note.) 
 
4. (U) On October 17, FJK's press service reported claims 
of numerous incidents of harassment.  According to FJK, 
activist Galina Gramlih and her husband were distributing 
opposition newspapers in the Al-Farabi district in Astana, 
when they were forced at gunpoint by four men dressed as 
civilians to drive to a police precinct where the police 
confiscated 228 copies of opposition publications DATa 
Nedelya (Zhuma Times), three copies of Epokha, and 10 FJK 
pamphlets.  Gramlih was accused of distributing illegal 
 
campaign materials, although according to FJK the pamphlets 
did not contain any information that fit the legal 
definition of "campaign materials" exhorting voters to vote 
for a particular candidate.  In the northern city of 
Kostanay on October 21, FJK reported that police stopped a 
car that was delivering the opposition papers Epokha, 
Pravda, Apta.kz, and Svoboda Slova, and without explanation 
confiscated all copies.  On October 22, FJK said that 
traffic police in Almaty stopped a car driven by two 
elderly Communist party members and confiscated 400 copies 
of Svoboda Slova, issue 33, and briefly detained 65-year- 
old Turbanaly Turginbayev for resisting the police 
confiscation.  (Note:  as noted in para 5, issue 33 was 
seized shortly after printing.  Although the seizure was 
upheld by the courts, numerous copies of this issue managed 
to evade the authorities and are now circulating hand-to- 
hand.) 
 
Svoboda Slova Issue #33 Confiscated, Defamation Suit Filed 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
5. (U) As reported Ref C, the October 19 issue of 
opposition "Svoboda Slova" ("Freedom of the Press") 
newspaper was seized by police on the orders of the Almaty 
election commission.  During an October 19 press 
conference, editor-in-chief Gul'zhan Yergaliyeva recounted 
how authorities had seized the paper and argued that 
article 20 of the law on mass media permitted confiscation 
only with a court order.  Svoboda Slova journalists issued 
a statement saying someone at the Dauir printing firm had 
to have tipped off police about the paper's content because 
police arrived at 06:00, before the papers could be 
distributed.  They note that the Dauir printing firm is 
owned by the President's sister-in-law, Svetlana 
Nazarbayeva.  As noted in Ref A, Dauir agreed to print the 
opposition papers after the previous printer, Vremya, was 
pressured into refusing. 
 
6. (U) The Minister of Interior told the Ambassador on 
October 22 that the paper was seized because the back page 
article about registration of Tuyakbay's candidacy 
constituted premature campaigning.  He showed the 
Ambassador a copy of the paper to prove his point.  On 
October 27, CEC Chairman Zhumabekov told Ambassadors Finley 
and Ordway that the only role the CEC has with regard to 
media is to oversee the process of providing space in state- 
owned newspapers and time on state-owned media.  He 
disavowed any CEC authority to seek the seizure of 
newspapers, which he said belonged exclusively to the 
procuracy and law enforcement bodies. 
 
7. (U)  The media advocacy group Adil Soz and Mizinov 
report that on October 21, the court also fined DATa Nedeli 
39,000 tenge (about $290) for insulting the honor and 
dignity of the President in the article, "Kazakhgate: 
History of One Crime."  The closed hearing took place with 
no legal representatives of the paper or witnesses. 
Yermurat Bapi had requested a postponement because DATa 
Nedeli founder and director Zhumash Kenesbai was in the 
hospital recovering from a heart attack. 
 
Svoboda Slova Issue #34 Confiscated, Then Returned 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
8. (U) Yergaliyeva posted a statement on kub.kz describing 
how early in the morning of October 26, police in Almaty 
stopped a car that was delivering 30,000 copies of Svoboda 
Slova, issue #34, and confiscated all copies.  At 10:30 the 
same morning, a representative of the Medeu district police 
station arrived at FJK's central office and said that 
police had "made a mistake."  He apologized for 
confiscating issue #34 and suggested that FJK come to the 
station to pick up the papers. 
 
The Politically Correct Official Reaction and Response 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
9. (SBU) Public statements by the editors of official 
media, by President Nazarbayev's campaign manager, and the 
information ministry present a stark contrast between the 
official policy on media coverage of the elections and 
actions carried out to harass opposition media.  Kaisar 
Dzhanakhanov, chairman of the information and archive 
 
 
committee of the information ministry, said publicly he had 
no information about the grounds for confiscating Svoboda 
Slova, nor any complaints regarding the paper's activities. 
He speculated that the reports were publicity stunts by the 
opposition. 
 
10. (U) In comments to the press, Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov, 
head of the President's campaign headquarters, agreed with 
Yergaliyeva's legal assessment and said that according to 
article 14 of the law on mass media, state agencies could 
block the sale of a newspaper only with a court order.  He 
said that he did not support other actions blocking the 
sale of newspapers "if these actions are inconsistent with 
current legislation."  Zhumagulov's comments followed his 
October 21 meeting with the head of the ODIHR/OSCE election 
observation mission for Kazakhstan Audrey Glover. 
 
11. (U) At a press conference in Almaty on October 19, the 
chief editors of state television and print media declared 
their intention to provide unbiased coverage of the 
presidential election campaigns.  Kazakhstanskaya Pravda's 
Oleg Kvyatkovskiy said, "Politics is defined by four simple 
words:  objectivity, the principle of equal coverage of all 
candidates, impartiality, and naturally, due process of law 
in covering campaigns of each candidate."  When asked if 
official media would publish opposition campaign materials, 
Sauytbek Abdrakhmanov of the official Kazakh language daily 
Yegemen Kazakhstan said, "That's a rhetorical question.  It 
is required by law, so we will observe all legal 
requirements."  Khabar Agency general director Ismail 
Igilmanov reminded journalists of the "pact" signed by more 
than 20 media outlets in late September "to equally 
distribute broadcasting time among the candidates and to be 
transparent in covering an election campaign of each 
candidate without any infringements." 
 
12. (U) The information ministry announced October 21 its 
intention to continually monitor coverage of the 
presidential campaigns by state media and issue weekly 
reports on the quantity of reporting for each candidate. 
The results of the monitoring will be provided to the 
Central Election Commission, the campaign headquarters of 
each registered candidate, international election 
observation missions, civil election observation 
organizations, and media.  The ministry reiterated that all 
candidates would be provided equal access to state-run 
television, radio, and print media for their campaigns. 
The ministry called on the media to be objective, fair, and 
balanced in covering campaigns and to observe high 
journalistic standards.  Echoing the procurator's September 
warning to journalists to be responsible and not publish 
provocative, libelous information, the ministry reminded 
them to observe the law, which prohibited the publication 
of materials that insulted the honor, dignity, and 
reputation of the president. 
 
13. (SBU) In an October 27 meeting with USOSCE Ambassador 
Julie Finley, Presidential Administration Chief 
Dzhaksybekov claimed that the seizure of newspapers that 
violated the law was justified, but added that there were 
those around the president that had different views, 
including his deputy, Marat Tazhin, who was sitting next to 
him. 
 
14. (SBU) A statement by Dariga Nazarbayeva quoted on 
October 27 by Interfax suggests there may be even more 
legal actions in the future.  She said that the President's 
family reserves the right to pursue cases of "libel" in the 
courts, including internationally, if circumstances of 
their personal life, their businesses and their other 
activities are used to discredit the president or 
Kazakhstan's reputation. 
 
Why Are They Doing This? 
------------------------- 
 
15. (SBU)  The gap between the official statements on media 
and harassment of opposition media by city and precinct 
level police raises questions about who is ordering the 
harassment and why.  Here are a few of the theories that 
are currently on the street, and our own take on them. 
 
16. (SBU) Fiona Hill of the Brookings Institution recently 
 
suggested that the authorities fear a "color revolution" in 
Kazakhstan.  Our reading of the series of recent meetings 
between Nazarbayev and senior American officials, as well 
as our contacts with a number of his senior advisors, 
suggests that any such fear has been dramatically reduced 
in recent months.  The more sophisticated advisors realize 
that provocative actions directed against the opposition 
are likely to increase rather than decrease the motivation 
to attempt mass protests in the streets. 
 
17. (SBU) The prominent political scientist Nurbulat 
Masanov theorized to us that the harassment of the 
opposition media is calculated to limit their activities, 
and he claimed that it is "well known" that the authorities 
are behind it.  We agree that the authorities are behind 
it, but the question remains exactly which authorities. 
While the seizure of Svoboda Slova may have been debated at 
the highest levels (at least after, if not before the 
action), the day-to-day harassment is much more likely to 
be locally generated. 
 
18. (SBU) Political commentator Yerlan Karin said the 
authorities don't simply want to win the presidential 
elections, they want an "astonishing victory."  Our take is 
slightly different.  Nazarbayev and his senior advisors are 
telling us repeatedly, and with apparent sincerity, that 
they realize a legitimate victory in the 60-70 percent 
range is better than a rigged victory in the 80-plus range. 
From this perspective, seizures of opposition press could 
be seen as loyalists over-fulfilling the plan in the 
absence of any explicit instructions.   As in most post- 
Soviet states, in Kazakhstan anyone in a position of 
subordinate authority (political, business, governmental, 
administrative) feels compelled to "deliver" the best 
possible results for the incumbent President.  This sense 
of competition is exacerbated by the highly centralized 
system of economic and political power centered on the 
President.  In such a context, perceived self-interest will 
win out over admonitions from Astana -- assuming there have 
been any -- every time. 
 
19. (U) Minimize for Dushanbe considered. 
 
Ordway 
 
 
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