Three press freedom activists have been prosecuted for organising a “flash mob” in support of imprisoned journalists in Kazakhstan capital Almaty on January 6. The three activists were charged with holding an illegal demonstration when they appeared before an Almaty court on January 11, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
“The prosecution of Raushan Esergepova, Rozlana Taukina and Vladimir Kozlov must stop at once,” Paris-based RSF said. “Although the Kazakh government has just taken over the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s presidency for 2010, it seems to be ignoring the right to free expression that it is supposed to guarantee.”
Esergepova is the deputy editor of the weekly Alma-Ata Info and the wife of imprisoned journalist Ramazan Esergepov, its editor. Taukina is a journalist who heads the NGO Journalists in Danger. Kozlov heads Alga!, a political party that is not recognised by the authorities.
They received summonses on January 11 to report within two hours to a special administrative court in Almaty, where they were charged with violating legislation on the organising of “peaceful gatherings, meetings, marches, pickets and demonstrations” under article 373 of the code of administrative offences. The next hearing has been set for January 26.
Around 30 people took part in the January 6 “flash mob,” gathering in downtown Almaty and releasing multi-coloured balloons bearings the names of four imprisoned journalists: Esergepov, Alpamys Bekturganov (a writer), Tohniyaz Kuchukov (the correspondent of the newspaper Vremya) and Tokbergen Abiev (the editor of the newspaper Zakon i Pravosudie). The police filmed the protest but did not intervene and there were no incidents.
“A ‘flash mob’ is a form of demonstration that is unknown to the legislation in force, which does not explicitly identify it with meetings, marches and pickets,” Taukina said. Article 373 of the code of administrative offences is often used to intimidate activists and human rights defenders. Violators can be given stiff fines and repeat offenders can be detained for two weeks.
The “flash mob” was held on January 6 to mark the first anniversary of Esergepov’s arrest for publishing a story about influence-trafficking involving a leading businessman and members of the National Security Committee (KNB), the KGB’s successor. After a trial marked by many irregularities, he was sentenced on August 8 to three years in prison and a two-year publishing ban on a charge of gathering and divulging classified documents.
RSF added, “We call on the OSCE’s other member countries and its press freedom representative to quickly remind the Kazakh authorities of the undertakings their country has given.”
