As Kazakhstan remains in a state of emergency, journalists are assaulted and detained

Journalists are being subjected to escalating violence and obstruction when they try to cover and report the ongoing protests in Kazakhstan and the use of deadly force by the government to repress them.

A TV crew's driver was killed while following a convoy as a result of a shooting. As Muratkhan Bazarbayev, the head of Kazakhstan's largest television station drove an Almaty TV crew to city hall, their vehicle was hit by gunfire near Republic Square at around 11 p.m. on 6 January. Kazarbayev died instantly, while one of the shots also struck the right hand of the crew's technician, Diasken Baytibaev, who lost two fingers.

Akim (mayor) of Almaty had invited the pro-government TV channel crew to reassure the public that order had been restored in the city after the previous day's protests turned violent.

There has been an alarming rise in cases of obstruction and violence against journalists trying to cover the protests and the deadly "mopping-up operations" following the violent clashes between violent groups and security forces. Security forces have been told they can use live rounds without warning.

Arrests

On 7 January, Lukpan Akhmedyarov, editor of the regional weekly Uralskaya Nedelya, was arrested on his way to work in the western city of Oral. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail for "participating in a demonstration" he had covered. A court rejected his appeal on 10 January. RSF reported last week that Akhmedyarov had already been summoned and questioned by police on 5 January.

 In the eastern region of Kazakhstan, Daryn Nursapar, the editor of the Altaynews website, has also been detained since 7 January. The website's owner, ShygysAkparat, had banned its journalists from covering demonstrations, but Nursapar decided he had a professional obligation to report on them. After being arrested at home, he was sentenced to 15 days in prison.

Journalists have sometimes been arrested without explanations from authorities. A Russian journalist for the independent news site Orda was taken away from her apartment without explanation by police in the northwestern city of Aktobe on 9 January. Following her release at 2 am the next day, she attributed her arrest to her reporting of the previous days' demonstrations and her criticism of the city's akim. A freelance journalist for the Russian state television channel RT in Almaty, Stanislav Obishchenko, was similarly held in custody for a few hours after his arrest on 8 January.

Violence

Security forces have also been known to use physical violence against journalists on the ground, as well as arbitrary arrests. Two journalists were murdered by a uniformed man outside Almaty's morgue on 8 January - Vasili Polonsky from the independent TV channel TV Rain, as he filmed a man roughing him up, and Vasili Krestianinov from the independent investigative news website The Insider. They managed to escape without being hit.

 The night of 5 January, Almaz Toleke, a freelance photographer, sustained a gunshot injury to his leg after soldiers opened fire on his car while he was reporting from Almaty. He had all the permits he needed to be outside during curfew hours, but he panicked and accelerated when the soldiers told him to stop.

 Yesenzhol Yelekenov, a reporter trainee with Uralskaya Nedelya, also sought medical attention after being beaten when he was arrested and then held for three hours in the western city of Oral on 5 January. As previously reported by RSF, several other journalists have been injured during law enforcement operations across the country.

 Some of the violence against journalists has been committed by rioters. As early as 5 January, rioters smashed windows of a building in Almaty's Republic Square, which housed the offices of five TV channels - the state-owned Kazakhstan and Khabar, the privately-owned pro-government channels Eurasia and KTK, as well as Mir 24, a channel operated by the Commonwealth of Independent States, an intergovernmental organization. Rioters ransacked the offices, destroyed equipment, held employees in their offices for nearly an hour before releasing them, and then set fire to the building.

On 5 January, Almaz Kaysar, a photojournalist for the Vlast news website, was filming demonstrators in Almaty when he was surrounded by individuals wearing masks. Even though he was wearing a press vest, he was suspected of working for the security services and of photographing the demonstrators. His mobile phone was smashed on the ground as other participants tried to defend him. Despite being required by law, he had to remove his press vest in order to resume work without being noticed. The same day, Farhat Abilov, a photographer for the weekly newspaper Ak Zhaik, was insulted, beaten and jostled by violent demonstrators while filming clashes with the police in Atyrau, western Siberia.

 Moreover, two journalists with KazTAG were also attacked by demonstrators in Almaty, as was Saniya Toyken, the Kazakh correspondent for Radio Azattyq (the Kazakh service of Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) in Aktau. On the evening of 4 January, a car accidentally ran down Ruslan Pryanikov, a photographer for the French news agency AFP, while he was covering demonstrations in Almaty.

Obstruction

Journalists and media outlets are obstructed by the authorities to maintain their control over news and information. A reporter for the independent news website Orda was ordered to leave Almaty's Republic Square by police on 10 January after security forces had carried out deadly operations over the weekend.

 The incident was not isolated. Bagdat Asylbek, a reporter, was arrested in the square on 5 January after filming members of a special unit shooting at demonstrators. His credentials and ID cards were confiscated. He was able to retrieve his mobile phone after arguing with the police, who wanted to delete his videos. Also unsuccessfully, the police attempted to remove photos and videos of army vehicles that Uralskaya Nedelya reporter Serik Yesenov took in Oral.

Censorship

The internet was still down in some parts of the country yesterday afternoon after briefly being restored. Tokayev promised to allow Internet connections to be reestablished in calm regions, but warned that defamatory acts would be "punished." This threat applies most obviously to the "free" media outlets branded by Tokayev as "demagogic," which were warned that criminal proceedings would follow the slightest misstep. According to the information ministry, the penalty for the "deliberate dissemination of false information" has increased from three years to seven years imprisonment under the state of emergency imposed in Almaty and several provinces.

On 10 January, the information ministry demanded that an article on faction-fighting within the government published by Daniil Kislov, editor of Fergana, an independent news agency specializing in central Asia, be deleted after it censored two independent media outlets last week. Fergana refused to comply with the demand, asking the authorities to clarify which parts of the article constituted a threat to the state and society of Kazakhstan. The website was blocked a few hours later.

In order to prevent independent coverage of the protests and crackdown, the government is keeping the international media at bay. Although international flights have been maintained, the authorities are delaying the arrival of foreign reporters, including those from Le Monde. An "intergovernmental anti-pandemic commission" will meet on public health grounds to decide whether foreigners can enter the country.

* This article contains information sourced from the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.