PRESS RELEASE: Journalists Challenge Standard Rules for Accreditation in Civil Court

Astana, October 9, 2024
The Interdistrict Civil Court of Astana accepted a collective lawsuit on October 7 from nine Kazakhstan journalists against the Ministry of Culture and Information, challenging provisions of the new order that establishes "Standard Rules for Journalist Accreditation". The plaintiffs argue that this regulatory legal act seriously violates their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and information dissemination.

The key issue is a clause that prohibits accredited journalists from disseminating information obtained from state authorities through any other media outlets besides those that accredited them. In the event of two violations of this condition, a journalist may lose their accreditation for up to six months. The plaintiffs contend that this requirement contradicts Articles 20 and 39 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Mass Media", restricting their constitutional right to freely receive and distribute information.
The International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech "Adil Soz" is providing legal support to the journalists, representing their interests in court.

"I would like to draw attention to the fact that the procedure of introduction of model rules of accreditation was conducted in violation of the Law "On Legal Acts", in particular, by setting the term of validity of the model rules "retroactively", although legal acts establishing new legal liability cannot be enacted before the expiry of 60 calendar days after the official publication. The state requires strict compliance with the law by the citizens of the country, therefore its bodies have neither moral nor legal right to ignore the procedural requirements of the legislation", said Karla Jamankulova, President of the Foundation.

Official communications from organizations are provided to all journalists, regardless of accreditation status. Thus, the requirement to publish information only in the media from which the accreditation was obtained may limit freedom of journalistic activity and violate the principle of equal access to information. This condition places journalists accredited by a state body at a disadvantage compared to those without such accreditation and deprives them of the opportunity to freely disseminate information across various media and social networks, violating Article 20 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which guarantees the right to freedom of speech, including the right to freely receive and distribute information.

"The state should be interested in ensuring that the information they provide at briefings reaches as many citizens as possible. Considering that people have developed different habits for obtaining news: some read newspapers, while others prefer to scroll through social media, the government should not restrict channels of information dissemination but rather encourage us to tell as many people as possible. In an era of anonymous channels, it is foolish to limit the original content of professional journalists. I am confident that a fair trial will rule in our favor and eliminate these absurd requirements, which offer no practical benefit to society and complicate the work of professional journalists", said Tamara Vaal, Head of the Astana bureau of the online magazine "Vlast", and a participant in the collective lawsuit.

The plaintiffs insist on the recognition of certain clauses of the order issued by the Ministry of Culture and Information as contradictory to the law and demand their repeal.