Focus on civil liberties

In the latest blow to independent media in Kazakhstan, a small band of journalists and human rights activists gathered on the steps of Almaty's main court on Wednesday were told by squads of police to disperse or face the consequences. The group had gathered to voice opposition to the proceedings within, where a Kazakh publishing house was ordered to close for violating press laws. Sergei Utkin, lawyer for the publisher, told IRIN the ruling was "purely a political decision," and added that an appeal would be launched against the ruling within two weeks. Journalists from the Delovoye Obozreniye Respublika newspaper - owned by the publishing house -have pursued investigations into alleged corruption, including claims that President Nursultan Nazarbayev and members of his entourage funneled funds into secret Swiss bank accounts for their personal use. "It was bad during the Soviet times, but it's worse now because this guy [President Nazarbeyev] has Western support," one journalist who declined to be named and publishes under a pseudonym told IRIN after the court gathering. Kazakh authorities went public in April with news that they had set up a secret US $1 billion fund in a Swiss account in 1996. Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov said that the fund had been set up in case of an economic crisis in Kazakhstan and denied that Nazarbayev had any accounts abroad. Irina Petrushova, former editor of the weekly newspaper, said the court order could not prevent journalists from registering a new company and publishing a new newspaper with the same editorial staff. "Of course we are going to continue, this action by the courts shows how authoritarian the state has become," she told IRIN from her tiny flat in downtown Almaty. The erosion of democracy and free speech in Kazakhstan is viewed with some concern in the West - the United States and European Union (EU) urged Kazakhstan last week to take action to protect and advance the development of a free press and the rule of law. But most observers believe that's about as far as Western criticism will go. Kazakhstan is an increasingly important energy producer for Europe and America and is a regional ally in the US-led fight against terrorism. "Nobody in Washington, London or Brussels is going to push too hard on issues like human rights here because [President] Navarbeyev has too much to offer the West," an Almaty-based diplomat told IRIN. The diplomat's comments followed an announcement by American oil giant ChevronTexaco in the Kazakh capital Astana that it would invest a further US $3 billion in the development of its projects in western Kazakhstan's major Tengiz oil and gas fields. Human rights groups told IRIN that Kazakhstan should learn from countries like Nigeria where billions of petro-dollars had been squandered by successive corrupt regimes. "We would like to see energy and mineral companies reaching a social compact with our government where contracts are linked to things like democracy and good governance," Marya Pulman of the Kazakhstan Bureau for Human Rights told IRIN. The United Nations in Alamty told IRIN that establishing government accounability and democracy was a priority task, but that such work was very much long term in a nation as young as Kazakhstan. "Just holding elections does not make Kazakhstan a democracy, so the UN system, along with many others is helping to establish democratic principles, both at the demand side - among civil society as well as at the parliament, administration and in government," Fikret Ackura, UN Resident Coordinator said. Nazarbayev, a former Communist Party boss, launched limited democratic reforms after Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union more than a decade ago, but has become increasingly impatient with dissent. In January, he ordered the government to take a tougher line with the opposition, saying politicians and the media should be held responsible for their statements. Since then, authorities have pulled a popular political talk show off the air and suspended the broadcast licence of a local television station critical of the government. Last week's court decision came as a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report named Kazakhstan as one of a handful of countries slipping into authoritarian rule. The report, "Deepening democracy in a fragmented world," which looks at global progress towards democracy over two decades, said only 82 countries out of a total of nearly 200 examined could be considered full democracies. "The desire for stability often leads to the notion that non-democratic regimes hold out the prospect of greater public order and faster economic development," Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, the report's main author, said. "History and academic research provide no evidence that authoritarian regimes are better at promoting economic and social progress," he added. Two weeks ago Nazarbayev signed a law making it more difficult to register political parties. Under the new law, proposed by the pro-Nazarbayev Otan (Fatherland) party, any political party will need the signatures of 50,000 members to register, up from the 3,000 required now. Nazarbayev has been pursuing a tough clampdown on media criticism and political opposition since last November when a new party, Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK), emerged and demanded more political and economic freedom. Two DCK members are currently on trial for abuse of office while holding government posts, charges that their supporters and some human rights organisations say are politically motivated.