President, Republic of Kazakhstan
c/o Embassy of Kazakhstan
1401 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC, 20036
Dear President Nazarbayev:
As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I believe strongly that U.S. - Kazakhstan relations are important to both our nations and I hope one day we will be able to work on issues of mutual interest from the position of strategic allies.
I am disappointed, however, that Kazakhstan is not moving more quickly towards becoming a transparent democracy that enjoys full freedom of the press, recognized political parties and the other vital institutions that 15 million Kazakh citizens deserve.
Moreover, I am troubled by recent reports indicating that officials within your government have been interfering with the efforts of political parties to organize, such as in the case of the Atameken party.
Given the tensions and turmoil in the broader Middle East, an open and progressive minded Kazakhstan has the potential to be a bridge between east and west and to play an influential role in diminishing current and potential hostilities. But it can only do so if those who value freedom, democracy and tolerance perceive Kazakhstan as part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Unless visible progress is attained quickly, I will not be able to support Kazakhstan in its quest to assume the chairmanship of the OSCE, which I believe should be reserved for those who fully support the goals and principles enshrined in that organization, including those concerning democratization and human rights.
Mr. President, the fork in the road offers two very different paths. I encourage you to lead Kazakhstan toward a future that creates greater opportunities for your people, and a chance for our two great nations to work more closely to achieve peace and prosperity in your troubled part of the world.
Sincerely,
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
United States Senator
Kazakhstan is trying to get the OSCE rotating Presidency in 2009.
The report, presented at a public meeting in Astana, summarizes the results of trial monitoring programme conducted on behalf of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in 2005 and 2006 in close co-operation with the Supreme Court.
"The right to a fair trial plays a crucial role in the maintenance of order, the rule of law and confidence in State authorities. The purpose of this trial monitoring report is to contribute to that objective," said Mark Guthrie, deputy head of the human rights programme of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ODIHR, which initiated the trial monitoring programme in co-operation with the Kazakh authorities.
OSCE participating States have made a commitment to accept court observers as a confidence building measure and in order to ensure transparency in the implementation of their commitments to fair judicial proceedings.
"Improving Kazakhstan's compliance with OSCE commitments on the right to a fair trial is crucial in light of the ongoing criminal justice reforms," said Bjorn Halvarsson, Deputy Head of the OSCE Centre in Almaty.
The 25 trial monitors, trained by the ODIHR, monitored 730 court sessions in eight regions. The report includes an assessment of the sessions' compliance with fair trial requirements, statistics and a list of recommendations to the authorities.
"The OSCE Centre will continue to support the government by following up on the recommendations and carrying out a second round of trial monitoring during 2007," Mr. Halvarsson said.
Representatives of the Parliament, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Council, the Office of the General Prosecutor, the Ministry of Justice and civil society participated in today's meeting, organized by the ODIHR, the OSCE Centre and the Supreme Court.
Nazarbayev was key-speaker of a reception, invited by "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik" und "Ostausschuss der deutschen Wirtschaft". Both German institutions tried to do everything to give the Kazakh President a warm welcome. Unfortunately the opposition members did their best to destory the nice admosphere. They circulated "an alternative presentation of the situation in Kazakhstan" to the incoming participants of the event. After Kazakh officials were informed about the protest, they called the police for arresting the demonstrators. Realizing that German law does not allow arrests because of criticizing Presidents, members of Kazakh Secret Service tried to possession of the flyers. Afterwards, they took photos of the opposition members.
ETG was asked to publish the paper on its web-site. Interested persons can download the flyer here.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement that a succession of Kazakh printing houses have refused to print the newspaper, in some cases after officials warned the printing houses not to do so.
The CPJ said since December "Uralskaya nedelya" has signed contracts with four separate printing houses, only to receive notice several days later that the newspaper could not be printed.
According to the CPJ statement, the printing house with which "Uralskaya nedelya" signed its most recent contract, Ak Zhaiyk, is printing the newspaper despite the fact that "an official called Ak Zhaiyk and warned its management not to print 'Uralskaya nedelya.'"
Link
The crackdown on
opposition and media in the run-up to the December
2005 election that gave President Nursultan
Nazarbayev a new seven-year term barely let up in
2006 and prosecutions for “defaming” him continued,
along with closure of opposition papers and physical
attacks on journalists. A young French journalist was
also murdered in Almaty.
An opposition leader,
Altynbek Sarsenbayev, and two aides were shot dead in
February and the opposition media joined a protest
movement calling for a through investigation. Editor
Yergalieva Gulzhan, of
Svoboda Slova, was given a 10-day
prison sentence in March for saying President
Nazarbayev and his daughter (member of parliament
Darigha Nazarbayeva) were behind the murders.
Two months later, journalist Kazis Toguzbayev was
prosecuted by the committee for national security for
supposedly harming the president’s “dignity and
reputation” (article 318 of the criminal code) in a 3
May article on website
www.kub.kz headed “Mafia regime
shadows the murder of Altynbek Sarsenbayev” and
accusing the authorities of not investigating the
murder energetically enough. His trial began on 23
November and he faces up to three years in prison and
a fine of up to $7,600. He was banned from leaving
Almaty.
The regime continued to target the opposition press.
Kenzhegali Aitbakiev, a sub-editor of the
weekly
Ayna-Plus (whose liquidation had
been ordered in early April after being sued for
libelling Nazarbayev), was attacked and beaten up by
a dozen men near his home on 23 April and lay
unconscious in the street for three hours before
being taken to hospital for an emergency operation
for a fractured skull and jaw.
Ayna
Plus had only started up in
January as a new version of the opposition newspaper
Dat, founded in 1998 and several times forced to
change its name (SolDat,
Juma Times, Ayna-Plus) to keep going in the
face of several judicial liquidations, like other
publications.
Nazarbayev decreed amendments to the press law on 5
July, setting up a fund to pay libel damages (to
which all media had to belong), providing for a
three-year ban on working as a journalist for those
with a media-outlet ordered closed and a ban on
newspapers reusing or partly changing the name of a
paper shut down by the authorities. Registration with
the information ministry was tightened and
re-registration made compulsory whenever a
media-outlet changed its editor, address or the
number of copies it printed, on pain of heavy fines.
French journalist Grégoire de Bourgues, 24, was
murdered at his apartment in Almaty on 2 August. He
had been in the country for three months writing an
advertising feature for the government. Police said
he was the victim of a botched robbery by three men
who broke into his apartment and killed him before
getting away with about €5,000, his mobile phone and
laptop computer. Police arrested two suspects in late
August and said a third man was being sought.
Reporters Without Borders went to Kazakhstan in
September to investigate, met government officials
and investigators and managed to win access for the
family’s lawyers to the case files and permission to
participate in the trial. The family lodged a legal
complaint in France on 8 September and Reporters
Without Borders was granted interested party status
by the investigating judge.
Freedom of the media is one of the central OSCE commitments in the human dimension. Indeed, media freedom, including the freedom to criticise those in power, even in an outspoken manner, is a hallmark of and a prerequisite for a functioning democracy.
It is with concern, therefore, that the EU has learnt of the two-year suspended sentence handed down to Kazakh journalist Kazis Toguzbaev on January 22 on charges of infringement on the honour and dignity of the country’s president brought against him by the National Security Committee under article 318 of the Penal Code. In July 2006 another journalist, Zharsaral Kuanyshalin, was given a similar sentence on charges under the same paragraph of the Penal Code. This raises fears of a negative trend in Kazakhstan in this regard.
The EU calls on Kazakhstan to take up the offer of the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media to assist in bringing legal practice relevant to the media and freedom of expression in line with international standards and best practice. We hope that any future legal amendments being considered by Parliament in this respect will not lead to a further strengthening of legislation against defamation in Kazakhstan. We also hope that discussions on the new draft media law will soon be resumed by Parliament and will lead to tangible improvements of the media legislation in Kazakhstan. We should appreciate any information the Kazakh delegation can offer about plans for amending media-relevant legislation, including the draft law on “publishing activities” introducing a licensing scheme for all printing activities.
The Candidate Countries Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this statement.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
Source: European Union
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed support for Kazakhstan's desire to assume the rotating chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2009.
Speaking at the end of a visit to Berlin by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Merkel emphasized that such backing was conditional on continued political reforms in the country.
Merkel said that Germany, the current holder of the rotating EU Presidency, could be a motor for deeper integration of Central Asia with the EU.
"Central Asia is a focal point of the German presidency of the European Union, and we support the European Union in that we are developing more intensive relations in that region, especially with Kazakhstan," Merkel said.
Nazarbaev reportedly welcomed Merkel's initiative and said that Kazakhstan has a right to OSCE chairmanship. He said that his country had a free press and would be holding "open-ended" elections.
Western observers have not recognized any of the handful of elections in Kazakhstan since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 as free and fair.
In 2006, OSCE foreign ministers postponed consideration of Kazakhstan's election to the chairmanship.
The United States and others said Kazakhstan needed to take more steps toward democracy.
Human rights organizations frequently criticize Kazakhstan's government for failing to allow for independent media and for alleged human rights violations.
Nazarbaev has maintained a tight grip on virtually all state institutions since he ascended to power in 1989, and has consolidated his power through a disputed referendum and three presidential elections in 1991, 1999, and 2005.
EU Involvement
Merkel today pushed her proposals for more EU involvement in Central Asia in conjunction with her meeting with Nazarbaev.
Germany is the current holder of the presidency of the European Union, which is seeking to diversify its energy suppliers.
Merkel said that Germany can be a motor for deeper integration of Central Asia with the EU.
"Central Asia is a focal point of the German presidency of the European Union, and we support the European Union in that we are developing more intensive relations in that region, especially with Kazakhstan," Merkel said.
Nazarbaev reportedly welcomed Merkel's initiative toward Central Asia, but the two did not mention any specific energy project.