August 3, 1999
His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev
President of Kazakstan
Republic Square
Almaty, Kazakstan 480091
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by recent harassment and blackmail attempts, apparently initiated by the Kazak State Security Service (KNB), against Bigeldin Gabdullin, editor-in-chief of the XXI Vek (21st Century) opposition newspaper in Almaty.
Gabdullin told CPJ that a man who identified himself only as a member of the KNB telephoned him on July 19 and insisted on a meeting. Gabdullin agreed to meet him later that day at the Hotel Otrar in Almaty. The KNB official showed Gabdullin a videotape he claimed had been taken by a hidden camera that allegedly showed Gabdullin accepting a bribe. He threatened to air the video on national television unless Gabdullin agreed to stop criticizing the government in his newspaper. Gabdullin denied ever taking any bribe, and refused to discuss the matter further.
On July 21, during its evening news broadcast, the national commercial television station KTK (Kommercheskiy Televisionniy Kanal) aired a video clip of Gabdullin receiving money from an unseen figure beyond camera range. The news anchor, Andrei Prokopiev, announced that KTK had recently “come across a tape” that showed Gabdullin receiving a wad of cash from someone he ambiguously identified as an “agent”, implying that the editor worked for the State Security Service as well as for the opposition. Prokopiev provided no details and offered no evidence to back any of his claims.
Gabdullin told CPJ he was unaware that he had been the subject of secret service surveillance and was greatly alarmed. He stressed that there was nothing illicit about the event filmed by the hidden camera, which involved a legitimate exchange of money between himself and a colleague who was actually a shareholder in the newspaper. Since the broadcast, Gabdullin has sent a letter to KTK, demanding they provide legal documentation in support of their allegations. In addition, he has also requested that the General Prosecutor’s Office inform him of any criminal investigation being carried out against him related to the filming and the airing of the videotape.
CPJ reminds you that this is not the first incident of state repression against this newspaper. In September 1998 the offices of XXI Vek were fire-bombed and illegally shut down temporarily. And officials claiming large sums of money have recently filed a number of civil defamation suits against XXI Vek and other independent newspapers in Kazakstan.
Gabdullin believes the latest threats against him were prompted by his newspaper’s plans to publish a series of articles about hearings that the US Congress held in mid-July on Kazakstan’s human rights record. On July 16, a group of Kazak human rights monitors and political figures testified in Washington about your government’s repressive policies against political opponents and independent media. These hearings received scant coverage in the Kazak media because many journalists fear reprisals from your government. We fear that your administration’s attempts to control independent and opposition media will only increase in the run-up to parliamentary elections this fall.
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending the universally recognized rights of our colleagues around the world, CPJ strongly protests the recent harassment of Gabdullin and the XXI Vek weekly. These actions violate all of Kazakstan’s international commitments to guarantee press freedom. Subjecting Gabdullin to surveillance and blackmail in retaliation for his journalistic activity only serves to underscore the recent revelations of human rights abuses that have so embarrassed Your Excellency’s government.
We urge you to investigate these acts of intimidation against Gabdullin thoroughly, and to ensure his right to practice his profession freely and safely.
Thank you for your attention. We await your comments.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
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His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev
President of Kazakstan
Republic Square
Almaty, Kazakstan 480091