Kazakhstan Extends Accreditation for 12 Azattyq Journalists, 16 Still in Limbo

The Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs has extended the accreditation of 12 journalists from Radio Azattyq, the Kazakh service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). However, the accreditation of another 16 journalists remains unresolved despite ongoing legal proceedings, Orda.kz reports.

According to Azattyq, the Foreign Ministry granted a three-month extension to 12 journalists, including correspondents from Azattyq’s Kazakh Service and the Current Time television channel.

At the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Conference in Warsaw (October 6–17), human rights defenders and activists raised the issue of Azattyq’s blocked accreditation, describing it as a threat to one of Kazakhstan’s few independent media outlets.

By a court decision, 16 Kazakhstani journalists were equated with foreign correspondents, depriving them of the right to perform their professional duties. This now affects half of the editorial staff. On October 14, the issue of issuing accreditation to the next journalists will be decided. Legal proceedings are currently ongoing between Azattyq and the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We don’t know whether the journalists will be able to return to work,
 said Gulmira Birzhanova, lawyer at the Legal Media Center.

This is a small, well-deserved victory for everyone involved in the fight for freedom of speech: journalists, media experts, and international organizations. Unfortunately, these aren’t the 16 journalists currently involved in the lawsuit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but now there’s hope for justice and common sense.

Azattyq’s Kazakh Service is suing the Foreign Ministry over the refusal to grant accreditation to 16 journalists.

Earlier this year, the ministry denied accreditation first to seven employees, then to nine more, arguing that Kazakh citizens working for Azattyq were effectively acting as foreign correspondents without official authorization.

On September 22, the court once again sided with the Foreign Ministry, ruling against the journalists’ appeal.

Original Author: Anastasia Prilepskaya