Voice of Democracy
Published by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation · Washington, D.C. · Aug. 2, 2004

FATAL CENSORSHIP -- In a regime notorious for its often violent repression of the media, even what appears to be a traffic accident becomes suspicious when the victim is a journalist. Askhat Sharpizhan, an independent journalist who worked mainly on the Internet, was fatally injured as he crossed the street in Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty on July 16; he died four days later, reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. His brother, Merkhat Sharipzhan is director of RFE/RL's Kazakh Service. Police said it was just an accident, but journalists and opposition leader Zamanbek Nurkadilov have accused the government of playing a role in Sharipzhan's death. Police said Sharipzhan had been drinking but the driver was sober, but that account was challenged by one of the journalist's colleagues at the Navigator information website. Aigul Omarova told RFE/RL that she went to the hospital and "The doctor and the head of the surgery department said there was no alcohol in his blood." Sharipzhan's reporting had focused on corruption in the Nazarbayev regime and had been the target of threats. Other's who've reported on presidential corruption have been beaten, prosecuted, jailed and even killed in Kazakhstan; Western human rights groups and governments have repeatedly condemned the regime's harassment of the media. Sharipzhan's editor said he has been unable to find an article that the reporter was working on about high level corruption and his tape recorder and interview notes with a former government minister are missing. http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/07/051f93da-f735-47b8-95a2 1d7fe502ac4e.html

NAZARBAYEV ON CIA PAYROLL? -- The public was suddenly removed from a Manhattan federal courtroom last week in the preliminary hearing in the corruption case against a New York banker accused of funneling millions of dollars in bribes to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Prosecutors closed the session on national security grounds to discuss defense lawyers' contentions that James Giffen was a conduit between Nazarbayev and the American intelligence community. There have been suggestions that the Kazakh dictator may have been on the CIA payroll. Giffen is charged with paying $78 million into personal accounts controlled by Nazarbayev and his former prime minister, Nurlan Balgimbayev, in connection with a $1 billion deal between the government and Mobil Oil Corp. This is the largest case ever brought by the U.S. Justice Department under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Giffen's lawyers want the charges dropped on the grounds that U.S. law doesn't apply because Giffen was acting on behalf of Kazakh officials as well as being a de facto agent of the U.S. government. They payoffs to Nazarbayev also are being investigated by Swiss banking authorities and are part of a larger corruption scandal known as Kazakhgate and said to have netted a billion dollars in illegal payoffs to the dictator and his circle. http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/business/articles/eav073004.shtml

TRAINING FOR TERROR -- Uzbekistan, which has been the target of suicide bombings at the American and Israeli embassies in recent days, has said terrorists behind five bloody days of bombings and attacks this spring were trained in camps in southern Kazakhstan, triggering denials by Kazakh officials, reports the Washington Times. The charges came out last week as 15 terror suspects went on trial in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, charged with attempting to overthrow the government, religious extremism and other crimes. All of the defendants reportedly pleaded guilty to all charges, but human rights activists say the confessions were extracted by torture. Kazakhstan's National Security Committee insisted there was no evidence to support charges that the accused trained in camps in Kazakhstan, but it did say it found indications the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a Taliban ally, is operating in Kazakhstan. The Times noted that some of the suspects had relatives in Kazakhstan and some might have been migrant laborers there. http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20040728-094856-4224r.htm

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