From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Mon Mar 04 2002 - 09:41:53 EST
Kazakh independent media demand protection for staff in face of "pressure"
A number of Kazakh independent media have issued a statement demanding
protection for their staff from what they describe as "pressure" on the
part of the authorities. This follows a number of attacks on members of
staff. There have also been protests over cases where local authorities
have clamped down on independent media in the provinces. The following is
an excerpt from report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency:
Almaty, 2 March: A number of Kazakh media have issued statements saying that
they are under pressure from various forces.
The journalistic teams of the Karavan newspaper, the Kazakh Commercial
Television channel and the Retro-Karavan radio channel, owned by the
Alma-Media non-state holding (in Almaty), says a joint statement circulated
by them today, made a "demand" to Kazakh Interior Minister Kairbek
Suleymenov and Prosecutor-General Rashid Tusupbekov to defend them "from
pressure" and to "ensure the safety of independent media workers".
This statement was prompted by an incident last night when a unidentified
individuals threw a bottle containing an inflammable mixture through the
window of the flat where a member of the Alma-Media publishing house staff
lives. The statement's authors regard this and other incidents which have
occurred in recent days as attempts on the lives of the staff of the
holding. They think that they are "now under pressure from the Kazakh
power-wielding agencies".
"If the law-enforcement agencies do not carry out the duties delegated to
them, then journalists reserve the right to appeal to international human
rights organizations," the authors of the statement warned.
In their turn, journalists of the Irbis television and radio company (in
Pavlodar [the administrative centre of the eponymous northern region]) have
called on deputies of the country's parliament to "sort out the situation
which has developed regarding freedom of speech in Pavlodar Region and
throughout Kazakhstan". The authors of this statement, which was
distributed today, demand that "those who are persecuting Irbis and
independent journalists be made answerable".
"Recently," the statement notes, "the executive authorities, particularly in
the regions, have been dictating the conditions in which the media should
work and have in fact introduced censorship in their work and are limiting
independent journalists from getting information."
[Passage omitted: a number of lawsuits have been filed against the Irbis
television and radio channel over the past three months]
At the same time, again in Pavlodar, the TV 6x6 Company television channel
has stopped broadcasting because its television transmitter has broken
down. However the company's staff "are not at all confident that the
breakdown of the transmitter is due only to a technical fault".
[Passage omitted: a full-scale inspection has been conducted in this company
over the past three days]
In Temirtau (in central Karaganda Region), the TKT [presumably, Temirtau
Commercial Television], Channel 43 and TV-29 television channels disobeyed
a decision passed by the state bodies to suspend broadcasting until
violations of the country's legislation, in particular, the law on
languages, had been eliminated.
The chief of the Karaganda Regional information technology and
telecommunications department, Vladimir Semenov, told an
Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency correspondent that after his department
received the relevant instruction from the Transport and Telecommunications
Ministry, it issued an instruction to the executives of these television
channels to suspend broadcasting until the shortcomings had been eliminated
and sealed their transmitters. However, he said, the television companies
"broke the seals" and resumed broadcasting.
Semenov also said that TKT, Channel 43 and TV-29 were broadcasting
"illegally" at the moment. At the same time, he noted, the regional
department will not apply "punitive measures", but will again issue an
instruction to suspend broadcasting and will apply to the law-enforcement
agencies if the television companies disobey the instruction again.
At the same time, an Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency correspondent has
learnt, the management of the Temirtau TV-29 channel has made a complaint
to a prosecutor's office, but the latter has turned it down and advised
that dispute should be resolved "in a peaceful way".
Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian 1531 gmt 2 Mar
02
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