Kazakhstan

Kazakh law treats websites the same as the written media and they are not therefore required to register with the authorities. The government set up a state body in 1999 to monitor all telecommunications networks. ISPs have to register with it and their lines are tapped by intelligence officials. Opposition websites are blocked by most ISPs, a consequence of the battle between the government and the independent media. To get round this, Internet users can use foreign-based proxy sites, though this takes longer. Since it was created in September 2001, the website kub.kz, which is close to the opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan party, has received anonymous threats from people warning it not to post anything about President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is being legally investigated from abroad for embezzlement of state funds. Access to the site was blocked by the ISPs Kazakhtelecom, Nursat and Arna-Sprint during the first quarter of 2002. Sergei Duvanov, who wrote an article that appeared online on 6 May 2002 criticising the president for fraud, was interrogated by secret service agents and is being prosecuted for "harming the honour and dignity" of the president. He was severely beaten by thugs on 28 August and the next day, Kub, which had published his article, was blocked. He was sentenced on appeal on 11 March 2003 to three and half years in prison for alleged rape of an under-age girl. The many irregularities that marred the investigation and trial, as well the harassment Duvanov was subjected to, suggest the prosecution was politically inspired. Access to the Respublika site was blocked by Kazakhtelecom and Nursat between March and May 2002 and several other times during the year. The site contained news about the legal action being taken against the two main leaders of Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan. The independent online newspaper Navigator was unavailable from 20 May 2002 for supposed technical and administrative reasons after it posted an interview with the former state prosecutor of Geneva, Bernard Bertossa, who confirmed that top Kazakh officials, including President Nazarbayev, had Swiss bank accounts. Access to zhakiyanov.info, the official website of Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan leader Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence, was blocked by Nursat in several parts of the country on 4 September 2002. Experts called in by Yuri Mizinov, editor of the online newspaper Navigator, reported in April 2003 that the country's main ISP, the state-owned Kazakhtelecom, had blocked access to the website. LINKS: - Kazakh service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - The news site Eurasianet - The International Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech "Adil Soz" - Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law - The news site Kub