Press Freedom Groups Condemn Searches, Charges Against Orda.kz Editor

CPJ has pointed to cyberattacks, threats, and months of pressure on its editorial staff, Orda.kz reports.

The International Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Kazakhstani authorities to drop the criminal charges against Gulnara Bazhkenova, editor-in-chief of Orda.kz.

The organization issued a statement after searches were conducted at the outlet’s editorial office.

Police charged Bazhkenova with "repeated and deliberate dissemination of knowingly false information" and placed her under house arrest for two months. The charges concern publications from 2024.

Police said the investigation into earlier materials is continuing.

The police raid of Orda and the criminal charges against Gulnara Bazhkenova mark a deeply concerning escalation of pressure on Kazakh independent media and once again show how susceptible Kazakhstan’s ‘false information’ laws are to abuse,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kazakh authorities should drop the charges against Bazhkenova and urgently reform the law to ensure that defamation cases are resolved exclusively through civil law proceedings, the statement reads.

Prominent Kazakh rights defenders and journalists have suggested the charges may be retaliation for high-profile publications by Orda earlier this year linking the country’s then-foreign minister to large-scale corruption and the 2024 assassination of an opposition blogger,
 the publication says.

The Legal Media Center also issued a public statement regarding the situation.

The organization confirmed that the search lasted several hours and said armed law enforcement broke into a safe containing employees’ salaries at the Almaty office. 

It called attention to what it described as serious procedural violations during the searches, especially given that the editorial office does not pose a public threat.

We view this as psychological pressure on media workers, exacerbating a climate of fear and self-censorship in Kazakhstan's media landscape. Journalists must be able to freely perform their professional duties, exercising their right to freedom of speech and access to information. We demand that government agencies fully comply with democratic principles and constitutional norms, ensure transparent, fair, and lawful investigations, and guarantee journalists' safety and non-interference in their professional activities,
 they said.

Earlier, the international freedom-of-speech foundation Adil Soz also issued a public statement.

The organization called on law enforcement agencies to ensure transparency and avoid any actions that could be interpreted as pressure on freedom of expression.

On the morning of December 1, searches took place at Orda.kz’s Almaty office and at Gulnara Bazhkenova’s home. Lawyer Murat Adam reported that he was pushed out despite showing documents.

Olga Didenko, the editorial office’s lawyer, also said she was denied entry and was not shown a warrant.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov