More Lenient Media Law May still be Half-Measure

Kazakstan may be preparing to end prosecutions for libel as a criminal offence, but NBCentralAsia commentators warn that other methods of pressuring journalists will continue to exist.



On April 20, the minister for culture, information and education, Yermukhamet Yertysbaev, indicated that current media legislation might be liberalised, with changes including a temporary suspension of criminal prosecutions of defamation cases.



“We are even ready to introduce a moratorium on [legal action] for distortion of the facts, end criminal prosecution of journalists, and take a number of other steps to liberalise the legislation,” Yertysbaev told the Kazakhstan Today news agency.



The minister was speaking in the context of parliament’s review of a new draft media law put together by journalist organisations – the third such document they have submitted to legislators. The revised law would ban monopolies in all types of media and set out simpler procedures for registering print media outlets.



Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE representative for press freedom, has welcomed parliament’s decision to review the bill, saying “this initiative is a step in the right direction and offers hope of further liberalisation of the media in Kazakstan”.



At the end of January, after journalist Kazis Toguzbaev was given a two-year suspended sentence for criticising President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Haraszti urged the Kazak parliament to do away with the legislation that makes insulting officials a criminal offence.



Human rights activist Rozlana Taukina, who heads the Journalists in Trouble foundation, sees a direct link between Yertysbaev’s comments and Kazakstan’s bid to chair the OSCE in 2009. She believes this could herald the emergence of greater freedom of speech in Kazakstan.



“I think [the process of liberalisation] will become more active ahead of the [OSCE’s] review of Kazakstan’s bid for the chairmanship. It is a good thing, since we all know that this [criminal libel] article is deployed against journalists to ensure that certain subjects remain off-limits. It will give freedom of speech a chance to develop and provide journalists with greater scope to do their work.”



However, Taukina added that the moratorium on libel prosecutions is only a temporary measure, and there is a need to look at the financial and other weapons that can be employed against journalists.



Igor Bratsev, from the international centre for journalism MediaNet, agrees that suspending prosecutions is no guarantee that journalists will be less at risk. The law can be re-activated at any time, and until such time as it is made clear who is allowed to re-start libel prosecutions, and under what circumstances, the change will remain an empty promise, he said.



Bratsev said a more permanent decriminalisation of libel remains a distant prospect since the authorities have so far refused to consider doing so, and the current draft media law before parliament does not deal with the matter.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)