Call for revision of repressive Internet law as it goes into effect

Reporters Without Borders regrets that a bill regulating online communications and content was signed into law by President Nursultan Nazarbayev on 13 July because it gives blogs, chat rooms and other websites such as online retail outlets the same legal status as the Kazakh news media and thereby exposes them to the possibility of criminal prosecution. The new law will also enable the authorities to block websites that cover elections, strikes, demonstrations and ethnic issues. “This decision, which gives the government a legal mechanism to punish its opponents, bodes ill for Kazakhstan’s presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We call for the revision of this law, which violates the constitution and could lead to bloggers being jailed and online media being closed.” The press freedom organisation added: “The authorities have a right to adopt Internet legislation but it is regrettable that new technologies should be subjected to repressive laws.” Passed by the Kazakh parliament on 25 June, the law drastically curbs online freedom by, for example, making it possible to bring criminal prosecutions against bloggers over what they write. Article 20 of the Kazakh constitution nonetheless says: “Press freedom is guaranteed. Censorship is forbidden (…) Everyone has the right to freely receive and send information in accordance with the law.” Around 14 per cent of Kazakhstan’s 16 million inhabitants have Internet access and Prime Minister Karim Asimov urged ministers last January to start keeping blogs in order to “get close to the people.” The Russian-language blog platform LiveJournal, the most popular one in the region, has nonetheless been inaccessible in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (which uses the Kazakh network) since 10 October 2008. Press offences are still punishable by imprisonment in Kazakhstan and publications that criticise the government are often prosecuted on insult or defamation charges and are given heavy fines that force them to close. This is what happened to the weekly Tasjargan in March 2009 as a result of a lawsuit brought by a parliamentarian. Its editor found himself without a job after it was fined 160,000 euros.