A female journalist was attacked by a group of men following the deaths of five colliery workers in a workplace accident in Central-Eastern Kazakhstan, while separately another two media workers had equipment destroyed at a power station in the nation’s west. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Federation of Equal Journalists in Kazakhstan (FEJK) condemn the violence, obstruction and abuse of Kazakhstan media workers and calls on authorities to urgently investigate the matters.
On August 18, KazTAG journalist Diana Saparkyzy was forced away from the offices of the Kazakhstanskaya mine in the country’s central Karaganda region after being confronted by five unidentified men. The journalist was at the mine to investigate and report on the deaths of the five colliery workers as a result of a conveyer belt fire at an ArcelorMittal Temirtau (AMT) division colliery the day prior on August 17. As well as the five miners killed, 11 more workers were hospitalized. Initial coverage of the incident was limited to AMT press releases and an arranged press conference, with little independent coverage available.
During the confrontation with the men at the mine’s office, Saparkyzy took out her phone and attempted to film the obstruction and harassment. One man then allegedly grabbed her phone and deleted several files. The journalist has since undergone a medical examination, with results to be announced. Kazakhstan’s media community has since called for the mining corporation to be held accountable with freedom of speech foundation Adil Soz supporting the journalist for legal assistance.
In a separate incident on August 22, Radio Azattyk reporter Sania Toiken and cameraperson Yerzhan Amirkhanov were obstructed and had a drone destroyed while covering a story on ongoing equipment failures and resulting power supply issues at the Mangistau Nuclear Power Plant in the Mangistau region of western Kazakhstan. The journalists said the unknown attacker intentionally destroyed a drone operated by Amirkhanov by driving his vehicle into it at approximately 6 p.m. The driver then fled the scene, before returning with a lawyer and claiming he would not pay damages. Local police are yet to file a case against the perpetrator or accept statements from the journalists. The following day, Toiken and Amirkhanov submitted an application for intentional property damage and obstruction of legal professional activity of a journalist charges with law enforcement.
The FEJK said: “The attack by unknown men on KazTAG journalist Diana Saparkyzy in the performance of her work is not an accidental incident, but a deliberate pressuring and obstruction of journalistic activities. Diana has been working in the region for a long time and writes about its problems, and this is not the first instance of pressure against her for her work. Given all this, it is difficult to say that the situation with freedom of speech in Kazakhstan is changing for the better”.
The IFJ said: “Coverage of disasters or emergencies are critical stories for which the public and the victim’s families have a clear right to know. The obstruction, harassment or abuse of journalists during their professional work in both these instances is disgraceful. The authorities must immediately investigate police handling of these matters and conduct transparent and thorough investigations”.
