"Adil Soz" Issues Statement after Incident Involving Orda.kz

According to the foundation, such actions are aimed at destabilizing society, intimidating journalists, and have signs of digital harassment, reports Orda.kz.

We wrote earlier that the Orda.kz website was unavailable for 24 hours in Kazakhstan, although the Kazakh and English versions remained accessible.

The editor-in-chief, Gulnar Bazhkenova, faced a wave of fake ads, round-the-clock calls and messages about the sale of equipment and animals, as well as deepfakes in attempts to influence her reputation. One such case was an AI deep-fake invitation to the Immortal Regiment rally on her behalf.

Other journalists and government officials were also among those affected.

The organization stated that, according to the law, actions that prevent journalists from doing their job are, in some cases, equivalent to criminal offenses.

They may fall under Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan — “Obstruction of the lawful professional activity of a journalist,” and in some cases — under Article 255 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan as an act of terrorism if a threat to public safety is created.

The foundation recalled that in 2022–2023, independent journalists and editorial offices in Kazakhstan were already subjected to similar attacks: threats, arson, DDoS attacks, telephone bullying, and other forms of pressure.

Then the perpetrators — the coordinator of the attacks Oleksiy Tokarev and the person behind them, Arkady Klebanov (Manevich) — were sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

Klebanov was sent for compulsory treatment.

Attackers are now using new technologies, including deepfakes and personal data leaks:

The current attack on Orda.kz demonstrates that the measures taken then did not solve the problem of pressure on independent editorial offices. New threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, including the use of deepfake technologies and large-scale manipulation of personal data.

"Adil Soz" called on law enforcement agencies to conduct a full investigation and identify those involved.

Addressing the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office, the organization proposed introducing a rapid response system to cyber threats against journalists.

In addition, the foundation proposed introducing separate norms in legislation to protect adults from digital harassment, explaining this by the need to expand security measures for women, politicians, activists, and journalists. This concerns administrative and criminal liability.

Today, the law already contains an article protecting children from bullying, but adults (including media workers) are still deprived of such support.

Original Author: Raushan Korzhumbekova