Voice of Democracy
Published by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation · Washington, D.C. ·Sept. 6, 2002

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION -- The Kazakh government has shrugged off widespread international protests about the severe beating of one of the country's most prominent journalists. Calls for independent investigations have gone unheeded. Sergei Duvanov, editor of a human rights bulletin, was beaten unconscious last month in Almaty and a cross carved into his chest in an attack late widely believed carried out by undercover government agents in retaliation for his tough reporting about abuse of human rights, harassment of opposition politicians and violence against the country's dwindling independent media. As reported in VOD July 9, Duvanov was detained by Kazakh serurity officers earlier for an article considered insulting to President Nazarbayev because it reported on the dictator's admitted secret Swiss bank accounts. The U.S. government condemned the attack as did several international groups, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), the International League for Human Rights and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. OSCE has invited Duvanov, health permitting, to address an upcoming OSCE Conference about the human rights situation in Kazakhstan. "This brutal attack once more confirms what appears to be an emerging pattern of harassment of media professionals and human rights defenders in Kazakhstan", said Amb. Gйrard Stoudmann, director of OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. http://www.osce.org, http://www.washingtonpost.com, http://public.wsj.com/home.html.

RISKY BUSINESS -- The Economist Intelligence Unit has one word of advice for anyone thinking about doing business in Kazakhstan: DON'T. The reason: Corruption "at the highest levels." The EIU's RiskWire said Kazakhstan is riskiest place to do business with; it ranks at the bottom with a 93 out of 100 rating. "Bad government - not terrorism or security risk issues - is the biggest risk to business," the report said. "Vested domestic interests are increasingly powerful and pose a challenge to the position of foreign investors. Cronyism is common, and personal connections and the local industrial lobby are having a greater effect on policy," it noted. "Kazakhstan's rulers are increasingly hostile to foreign investors," says Alasdair Ross, RiskWire Editor. "This trend is accompanied by frequent attempts to renegotiate foreign investors' contracts." The report found "corruption is prevalent at all levels of government in Kazakhstan" and "vested domestic interests are increasingly powerful and pose a challenge to the position of foreign investors. Cronyism is common, and personal connections and the local industrial lobby are having a greater effect on policy. http://riskwire.eiu.com, http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/top_stories/

LANDED CRONYISM -- The government's proposal to introduce private land ownership is another scheme to help the rich get richer, reports the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta. "Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is preparing to sell state land to representatives of the political establishment and business elite." The move is an outgrowth of the dictator's 2001 legalization of illicit capital that allowed those with large sums of money abroad to repatriate it without taxes or penalties. It produced an estimated half a billion dollars (US), and search for investment opportunities by what the paper called "sufficiently influential figures" who pushed through the monetary legalization. http://news.bbc.co.uk/

For the full stories, see the web citations above or contact us at News@Kazakhstan21.org. The Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation promotes democracy and human rights in Kazakhstan through public affairs and educational programs in the United States and Europe. This material is distributed by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice,  Washington, D.C.