Voice of Democracy
Published by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation · Washington, D.C. ·December 20, 2002

UN-DUE PROCESS -- Justice delayed is justice denied, but the same is true of haste in the name of justice. That's the problem in Kazakhstan, where investigative journalist Sergei Duvanov is not being given adequate time to prepare his defense on charges of raping a young girl. His hastily-called trial is scheduled to begin next Monday, December 23. Even before it begins, the trial is tainted by President Nazarbayev's repeated declarations that the defendant's "guilt is proven." Compounding the injustice is the widespread belief that the charges are politically motivated and revenge for Duvanov's articles exposing high level corruption and for his work as a human rights activist. Duvanov's lawyers have called on the American, German and Portuguese envoys to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to "intervene" to have the trial postponed until his attorneys can receive, review and, with forensic experts, analyze the government's evidence and prepare their defense. Incredibly, his lawyers were told by a senior Kazakh official that, despite earlier promises, they could not have pre-trial access to details of the charges against Duvanov or to investigative materials and evidence on which they're based because it was "too voluminous" and "logistically" impossible," Charles Both wrote to the three envoys. He said Kazakhstan has "totally disregarded" its commitments to OSCE promising defendants a presumption of innocence and a "fair and public trial" by an "impartial" court and the right "to defend himself" through "prompt legal assistance."

KAZAKHSTAN 'NOT FREE' -- Once again, Kazakhstan ranks near the bottom in the annual survey of political rights and civil liberties published by the human rights group Freedom House. Kazakhstan is rated as "not free." On a scale of 1 to 7, with seven the bottom, it got a 6 on political liberties and 5 on political liberties, for an overall 5.5. If countries are known by the company they keep, Kazakhstan has nothing to boast about . Countries with the same low rating include Algeria, Angola, Cambodia, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Yemen. Two other Central Asian republics got the same score: Tajikistan (5.5) and Kyrgyz Republic (5.5); and two were even worse: Uzbekistan (6.5) and Turkmenistan (7). Kazakhstan was not one of the 29 countries that "demonstrated forward progress in freedom," according to the report. http://www.freedomhouse.org/research/survey2002.htm

WAGING DEMOCRACY -- George W. Bush has unexpectedly made promoting democracy around the world a major issue of his presidency, and that could be bad news for Kazakhstan. Repressive governments like the Nazarbayev regime are, in the long run, a bigger part of the problem than of the solution to the threat of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, according to an article in the current issue of Foreign Affairs. While the autocratic rulers of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt may feel waging the war against terror "tempts Washington to put aside its democratic scruples and seek closer ties" with those regimes, they may be in for a rude awakening, writes Thomas Carothers. "U.S. officials and policy experts have increasingly come to believe that it is precisely the lack of democracy in many of these countries that helps breed Islamic extremism," notes Carothers, director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The near term need for bases and security cooperation in Central Asia may have slowed but it has not diverted the American push for reform as the price for long-term American friendship. Bush's message, he writes, is: "this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the region's states to obtain significant outside support for the full set of economic, political, and social reforms necessary to join the modern world." Bush is running into problems with Nazarbayev, who "displays no interest in meeting the United States even partway." Instead the Kazakh dictator "is using the new context to tighten his dictatorial hold on the country and is openly spurning U.S. reform efforts." For the time being, Carothers adds, Bush is "unlikely to step up [his] mild pressure for reform" in light of Kazakhstan's sizable oil and gas reserves and the war against terror. The author warns that the credibility of Bush's democracy and reform campaign is on the line. "If the United States is serious about trying to steer Kazakhstan away from potentially disastrous authoritarian decay, however, Washington will have to become more forceful." www.foreignaffairs.org/

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.