Spotlight on Media Ownership in Kazak Libel Case

A court in Kazakstan has become a battleground in which a former minister of information is trying to show that figures close to President Nursultan Nazarbaev continue to preside over ostensibly independent sections of the media.

Altynbek Sarsenbaev has taken a strong stand on the issue even though he is the defendant, not the plaintiff in the case, and faces a 380,000 US dollar libel suit by the Khabar media group over an interview he gave to the opposition newspaper Respublika: Delovoe Obozrenie on October 1 last year.

In the interview, Sarsenbaev alleged that Khabar, which owns three TV stations and other outlets, is controlled by a larger corporation which in turn belongs to Dariga Nazarbaeva, the president’s daughter.

Nazarbaeva was previously director general of the Khabar group, but formally stepped down from the post last year.

On the surface, the dispute appears to come down to technical matters of company ownership, hardly a scintillating issue in itself. But the fact that both sides are fighting the case so hard gives a clue to the bigger issue: Sarsenbaev’s determination to prove his claims as part of a push for greater diversity of ownership and media freedom.

Hearings in the case are due to wind up on June 10, after which judges will decide whether Sarsenbaev has to withdraw his allegations and pay the money that Khabar’s lawyers are demanding in damages.

Khabar is a major player on the Kazak news scene, broadcast all over the country as well as in neighbouring states. Besides the Khabar channel itself, the group also includes two other television stations called El Arna and Caspionet, the Hit FM Khabar radio station, and two websites.

Nazarbaeva formally withdrew from her position as head of Khabar last year when she launched her political party, Asar. But Sarsenbaev is adamant that she continues to control it through a holding company.

That allegation has drawn angry denials from the company’s lawyers including Kanat Sakharianov, who said the statements “do not correspond to reality and are damaging to the business reputation of the Khabar agency”.

Representatives of the Khabar group have said they would be prepared to drop the case if Sarsenbaev agreed to withdraw his allegations. But Sarsenbaev has refused, insisting that the documents he has amassed and dozens of witness testimonies will vindicate him in court.

A former Kazak ambassador to Russia, Sarsenbaev is currently co-head of the opposition Ak Jol party and a founding member of the pro-democracy movement For a Just Kazakstan.

He was appointed minister of information just before the parliamentary election last September, in which he was a key figure on Ak Jol’s election platform. The party’s relationship with the government deteriorated after it secured just one parliamentary seat in the vote, and it accused the authorities of foul play.

Sarsenbaev subsequently gave up his ministerial post, and it wasn’t long afterwards that he made his comments to the newspaper.

Throughout the court case, he has couched his claims about who owns the Khabar group within the broader context of issues of media freedom and ownership in Kazakstan.

Interviewed by IWPR, Sarsenbaev reiterated his desire to see a loosening of the monopoly that he says Nazarbaeva and other family members maintain over the media.

In a speech at the start of the case, Sarsenbaev quoted from an appeal published by opposition politicians just before the election in which they accused the Kazak media of giving excessive coverage to the pro-presidential Otan party. He told the court that this bias was a direct result of monopoly control of the media.

Rozlana Taukina, who heads the Journalists in Trouble foundation, sees the case as part of the struggle for access to media.

“The information space in Kazakstan is carefully controlled and certain topics are off limits allowed, such as the mechanism for a transition of power,” she said. “The opposition doesn’t have any electronic media, and its newspapers have a maximum circulation of 30,000 copies. But up to five million people watch the Khabar agency’s [TV] news, and this is the audience that is being fought over.”

Sarsenbaev has promised to bring testimonies which he claims will show that the former owners of KTK television and Russian Radio were pressured to hand their businesses over to Nazarbaeva’s holding company and were subsequently forced to leave Kazakstan.

As the court case continued, opposition deputy Zauresh Batalova demanded on June 2 that Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov answer questions concerning allegations that state money is being channelled illegally through the Khabar group.

“This is a dispute between two political groups,” said Andrei Chebotarev, coordinator of the National Research Institute. “If Sarsenbaev proves he is right and wins the case, it will be clear that the political group close to the president are at fault.”

Khabar insists that its civil action against Sarsenbaev is not politically motivated. But many observers remain unconvinced.

“This court case was organised deliberately, to isolate Sarsenbaev as a politician and public figure. They just want to punish him,” said Taukina. “But quite unexpectedly for those who pressed this lawsuit, the court hearings have taken on a clear political slant and have turned into an aggressive investigation, rather than a defensive action by an embarrassed defendant.”

Sarsenbaev seems pleased with the way things are going, saying, “They’re worried by our political activity and want to make us waste our time, I don’t see any other explanation. But they forget that pursuing a legal action is a continuation of [our work]; that is, the fight for openness, transparency and freedom of speech.”

In the meantime, Chebotarev said, Sarsenbaev’s political pedigree can only improve his chances of success, “Since he has headed bodies… that were directly involved in state policy on the media, he is well informed. That means it will not be to the advantage of Khabar and its managers to continue with this conflict.”

Zamir Karajanov is an IWPR contributor in Almaty.