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O 140957Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
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RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001182 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV KDEM OSCE KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  CIVIL SOCIETY DISAPPOINTED WITH KAZAKHSTAN'S 
PROGRESS ON DEMOCRATIZATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  On June 22, several leading civil society 
activists briefed members of the diplomatic community in Astana on 
the status of Kazakhstan's democratic reform efforts.  The activists 
asserted that, despite modest progress in some areas, the government 
has become tougher on opposition political parties, and there are 
problems in the areas of freedom of the press and freedom of 
religion.  They urged the diplomatic community to continue pressing 
the Kazakhstani government for further reform.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The briefing was attended by representatives of embassies 
of the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, 
Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.  The civil society 
attendees were Yevgeniy Zhovtis of the Human Rights Bureau, Ninel 
Fokina of the Almaty Helsinki Committee, Tamara Kaleyeva of the Adil 
Soz media-freedom NGO, Vera Tkachenko of the Legal Policy Research 
Center, and Daniyar Kanafin, an independent lawyer. 
 
POLITICAL RIGHTS ON THE DECLINE? 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Yevgeny Zhovtis asserted that little progress has been 
made in implementing democratic reforms since Kazakhstan was 
selected to be 2010 OSCE chairman in November 2007.  In fact, 
Zhovtis claimed that political reform has actually been "moving 
backward," and, further, that the government's approach to 
opposition political parties has become "more repressive."  He 
listed several recent examples illustrating how the state has sought 
to take "control of society," and asserted that the recently-passed 
amendments to the law on political parties actually made it easier 
for the government to shut them down.  Zhovtis maintained that OSCE 
member states are "closing their eyes" to continuing harassment, 
detentions, excessive and selective fines, and other human rights 
violations. 
 
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM LAGGING 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Lawyer Daniyar Kanafin said that while he believes the 
Kazakhstani government recognizes its obligation to expand access to 
the justice system and to ensure due process in fair criminal 
trials, it has done little to implement such reforms.  He pointed 
out that defendants continue to face a distinct disadvantage in the 
courtroom:  Kazakhstan's trial acquittal rate is just 0.9 percent, 
which, according to Kanafin, is a result of the fact that 
prosecutors and judges lack independence and are beholden to the 
executive officials who appoint them.  In addition, defendants 
sometimes do not have access to professional legal representation, 
and in cases that involve classified or confidential information, 
defense attorneys are often barred from representing their clients 
because they lack the necessary security clearance.  Kanafin also 
criticized the prosecutorial practice of using anonymous testimony 
in criminal court proceedings which cannot be cross-examined by the 
defense. 
 
CONCERNS ABOUT DRAFT INTERNET LAW 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Adil Soz's Tamara Kaleeva told the participants that the 
government has recently taken a few positive steps to liberalize 
regulations on print media, but that more needs to be done to 
improve Kazakhstan's media environment.  In particular, she stressed 
the need to decriminalize libel and put legal caps on damages 
awarded in civil libel cases.  Kaleyeva expressed great concern that 
the draft law on the Internet would give the authorities the ability 
to block access to websites presenting views and positions they do 
not agree with.  (NOTE: We have raised our concerns about the 
Internet law with the Kazakhstani government on several occasions, 
urging the authorities to carefully consider the law in light of 
Kazakhstan's OSCE commitments to freedom of expression.  END NOTE.) 
 
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM:  CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Ninel Fokina of the Almaty Helsinki Committee said that 
while the Constitutional Council's February decision to strike down 
as unconstitutional amendments to Kazakhstan's religion law, 
 
ASTANA 00001182  002 OF 002 
 
 
"persecution" of "non-traditional" religious groups and individual 
believers remains a problem.  Fokina cautioned that outside 
observers became "too enthusiastic" following the Council's ruling 
and began overlooking other trends occurring in the country.  One of 
the more prominent areas of concern, Fokina said, was the 
government's continued interference in the activities of 
missionaries from "non-traditional" religious groups.  She pointed 
to the case of Elizaveta Drencheva, the Unification Church 
missionary who was recently sentenced to two years in prison on the 
basis of her teachings.  While a court of appeals later commuted 
Drencheva's sentence, it did not vacate her guilty verdict -- which 
Fokina warned has left the door open to further government efforts 
to go after the group. 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT:  We take a more nuancedview than the civil society 
activists about Kazakhstan's reform trajectory.  The "pressure" on 
opposition parties this year simply cannot be compared to the 
problems of a few years ago, when key opposition leaders like 
Galymzhan Zhakiyanov and Mukhtar Ablyazov were jailed for several 
years following convictions on politically-motivated charges, and 
one -- Altynbek Sarsenbayev -- was assassinated.  While some 
non-traditional minority religious groups continue to have problems 
with the authorities, others, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, do 
not currently have significant outstanding issues.  Overall, we see 
positive incremental progress on a variety of fronts -- such as the 
adoption the Madrid-related legislation -- and, not surprisingly, 
the occasional step backward -- such as the adoption of new Internet 
legislation.   On a particularly positive note, Kazakhstan's civil 
society leaders directly participated in drafting the government's 
2009-2012 National Human Rights Action Plan, which was recently 
signed by President Nazarbayev.  The Presidential Human Rights 
Commission informed us on July 11 that the MFA will publicly present 
the Plan to the international community on September 9.   END 
COMMENT. 
 
HOAGLAND