OSCE Media Representative concerned over size of libel case fine in Kazakhstan
VIENNA, 22 July 2004 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, is concerned about the high level of a fine imposed on the Kazakh weekly newspaper Assandi-Times, and has raised the case with Kasymzhomart Tokayev, the country's Minister for Foreign Affairs.
On 16 July 2004, in a libel suit brought by the Presidential Administration, an Almaty district court ordered the Assandi-Times not only to publish a retraction but also to pay 50 million tenge (approximately 370,000 USD) in "moral damages".
"I am alarmed by this case for two reasons, both of them pertaining to freedom of the press", said Mr. Haraszti. "My first concern is that this decision will force Assandi-Times, a major opposition news outlet, out of business, de facto annihilating the newspaper. This will narrow down crucial pluralistic voices in the media in Kazakhstan at a time when parliamentary elections are only eight weeks away. My more general worry is the very law which authorized the filing of such a case."
The OSCE Representative has been campaigning in the OSCE region for several years for the decriminalization of libel as well as against disproportionate fines.
He recalled that in a Joint Declaration issued in December 2002, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Organization of American States Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression stated that "civil sanctions for defamation should not be so large as to exert a chilling effect on freedom of expression and should be designed to restore the reputation harmed, not to compensate the plaintiff or to punish the defendant."
The OSCE Representative offered to assist the Government of Kazakhstan in amending and improving the country's media legislation.