Voice of Democracy
Published by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation · Washington, D.C. ·April, 5, 2004

UP TO HIS OLD TRICKS: RIGGING ELECTIONS -- Human Rights Watch has accused the Kazakh government of "undermining the prospects for free and fair parliamentary elections [this fall] by seriously harassing its political opponents." In a 53 page report to be released tomorrow, "Political Freedoms in Kazakhstan," HRW accuses the Nazarbayev regime of harassing the opposition through arbitrary criminal charges, threats of job dismissals and blocking candidates from running. The past two American administrations as well as the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and a host of international organizations have persistently criticized the regime for trying to fix, manipulate and control elections. Many of those bodies refused to recognize the 1999 presidential election, in which Nazarbayev barred all viable opponents from running. The new HRW report shows nothing has changed. OSCE has warned Nazarbayev that election rigging and fraud are major impediments to his ambition to chair the organization in 2009; the organization has also strongly criticized Kazakh human rights violations and reform failures. The report documents the government’s "record of manipulating elections." It also spotlights the legal and physical attacks on journalists who reported on government corruption involving Nazarbayev, kickbacks from foreign oil companies and his secret Swiss bank accounts. "The Kazakhstan government is obviously trying to stop the exposure of official corruption, especially in the oil sector," said Rachel Denber, acting executive director of HRW's Europe and Central Asia Division. http://www.hrw.org/

Here are some of the HRW findings:

• "The Kazakhstan government has a record of manipulating elections. In the September 2003 local council (maslikhat) elections, the opposition claimed that the government attempted to exclude its candidates from the ballot through arbitrary misdemeanor and other criminal charges, and other means of harassment and intimidation. The authorities also manipulated the December 2002 parliamentary by- elections."

STEALING FROM THE POOR TO HELP GET RICHER -- Secret payments to governments by foreign firms means revenues needed to deal with chronic poverty and other problems are instead going to finance high level corruption, charged the campaign group Global Witness. The corruption would not exist if companies were required to reveal such payments, the group said. And corporations that want to publicize the payoffs and bribes could face retribution from corrupt governments, including loss of their contracts. Kazakhstan is one of five countries singled out by Global Witness; the others are Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Congo-Brazzaville and Nauru. Ordinary Kazakh citizens "have no information on what is happening" to their country's huge oil revenues, the group charged, including $1 billion President Nazarbayev stashed in secret foreign bank accounts. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/ /2/hi/business/3563617.stm

THE ROWDIES AREN'T JUST IN THE STANDS -- In a country where journalists risk their lives daily reporting on government corruption and abuses, one newsman found it can also be very dangerous to write about corruption in the world of sports also. Sports journalist Maxim Khartashov, who has repeatedly exposed sleaze in the sports world, was beaten by two unidentified assailants in Almaty last week, reports Categorynet. Reporters Without Borders said the attack on the reporter for the opposition weekly Vremya was the second incident involving a sports journalist in less than a month. "The editor-in-chief of the weekly Sport & KS was dismissed [by the minister of tourism and sport] because he criticized the authorities and Maxim Khartashov was attacked most likely because of the articles he wrote," said the group. Unknown callers phoned Khartashov's home and office looking for him, and a few minutes later, when he emerged from the newspaper, one man followed him while another waited in front of his home. He remains hospitalized, being treated for head and facial injuries. The reporter believes the attack was a reprisal for his articles exposing drug scandals, match-fixing and embezzlement in the sports world. It is widely believed that such assaults on journalists are frequently the work of government thugs or plain clothes police, so it is no surprise that no arrests have been made. http://www.categorynet.com/fr/cp/details.php?id=43029

ANOTHER EDITOR JAILED -- The Kazakh dictator seems intent on filling his jails with journalists whose reporting displeases him, especially when they mention to circle of corruption over which he presides. The latest victim of Nazarbayev's brand of censorship is Vladimir Mikhailov, publisher of the independent weekly Diapazon. Reporters Without Borders suggested the regime of "neutralizing" the newspaper, the largest and financially-healthiest in the Aktobe region, in advance of September's legislative elections. The publisher was jailed on accusations of failing to relocate a load bearing wall in the newspaper office. The real reason, suggests Diapazon's editor-in chief, Marina Vassilievna, was the publisher's rejection of an attempt by the regional governor to take control of the newspaper. Reporters Without Borders, an international press freedom advocate, has been a frequent critic of what it considers the Kazakh government's persistent pattern of media repression. http://www.categorynet.com/fr/cp/details.php?id=43455

For the full stories, see the web citations above or contact us at News@Kazakhstan21.org or see VOD Archives [http://iicas.org/english/enlibrary/libr_16_03_01kp.htm]. 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.

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