Almaty. January 29. KazTAG - MediaNet International Center and Nobel Prize Nominated for the Nobel Prize may close in Kazakhstan, the joint statement of a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) says.
"Kazakhstani human rights and media public organizations are subjected to unreasonable and disproportionate fines and suspension of activities. Penalties and the suspension of NGO activities contradict the voiced state priorities of civil society development are damaged to the international reputation of Kazakhstan. Today, the organization "Echo" and "International Legal Initiative" is fined at 400 Mrp (T1 166 800) each, and their activities are suspended for three months. The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Compliance with the legality is fined 800 Mrp (T2 333,600) with the suspension of activities for three months. Another organization "Erkіndіk Kanati" is fined 100 MPP (T277 800), "the statement is said in Friday.
Thus, it is noted in the statement, "the total amount of fines on the four NGOs has already amounted to almost T5 million." In the near future, this amount in all organizations, as noted, can reach tens of millions of tenge. Cocrehensors recalled that in November-December 2020, a whole group of Kazakhstan NGOs received notice from the tax authorities on the violations identified.
"We are talking about Article 460-1 of the Administrative Code of Kazakhstan" Violation of the procedure for presenting information about obtaining money and (or other property from foreign countries, international and foreign organizations, foreigners, stateless persons or their expenditure. " Ahead consideration in the tax authorities in several public organizations with a fully predicted result. The current situation shows the imperfection of the administrative process carried out by government officials, and the absurdity of 460-1 sentences provided for by part 2, when for any inaccuracy, technical error, which is easily eliminated by the presentation of corrected reporting forms, are mandatory are large fines and suspension of activities, " Application.
According to NGOs, "the need for a cardinal revision of this article is obvious or an exception to it from the Code of Administrative Offenses."
"By suspending the work of public organizations, the state does not only deprive the legal protection of thousands of citizens of the country who help human rights defenders, education opportunities that are implemented under pressure from NGOs. As a result, hundreds of employees of organizations turn out to be no income for three months. To survive even for such a period of dusting, any organization can hardly. As for media projects, suspension for several months of any resource means actually its destruction. One such projects can be, for example, the first Factcheck.kz factory scan resource in Central Asia, implemented by the International MediaNet Journalism Center (which threatens both the suspension of activities and a fine of 5.5 million tenge). A special contrast of the situation gives the fact that the international network of factcasers, which includes Factcheck.kz, is nominated for the Nobel Prize of the World, "NGOs report.
As noted, "it is noteworthy that public organizations were subjected to such a pressure on the eve of parliamentary and local elections, which is regarded as a method of political pressure."
"A number of international organizations and diplomatic missions have already expressed concern about this occasion. Most of the "violations" manifested themselves in the form of untimely or inaccurate notifications of reporting on the received grants from international donors, as well as technical failures. Many of the organizations "inaccuracies" manifested themselves due to the difference in the exchange rate or the provision of information, respectively, the contract, and not on the fact of the receipt of funds (sometimes tranches vary). Problems also occurred due to changes in the rules for providing reporting on foreign funding. That is, the difference in the figures presented was due to circumstances, and was not intended distortion, "the social activists indicated.
It is especially important to note, consider NGOs that "all the so-called" violations "do not relate to the payment of taxes or the provision of tax reporting, they did not entail any arrears in the budget and at all any damage to anyone."
"This is an information reporting, where some discrepancies or malfunction are not related to intent to illegal actions, and punishments look completely disproportionate. According to the law, in relation to such violations, there is a period of limitation of attraction to administrative responsibility - two months, but the tax authorities prefer to consider them as tax offenses with a maximum date of limitations - five years, "added the authors of the application.
They believe that "state bodies are customized to maximize independent organizations, ignoring the possibility of eliminating errors."
"Despite the fact that NGOs exposed to pressure have made the necessary edits, the tax authorities still consider the data of" violations "as the provision of" unreliable information "and do not take into account that the discrepancies or technical errors have long been eliminated. Moreover, such a ratio of tax authorities to public organizations devalues the message about the need to develop a civil society, voiced by the head of state Kasim-Zhomart Tokayev in the message of the people of Kazakhstan, as well as the concept of civil society development until 2025, which has developed the Ministry of Information and Public Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan on behalf of The heads of state, "concluded NGOs.
Recall, on November 30, 2020, human rights activists and NGOs of Kazakhstan announced a one-time "attack" by government agencies, in particular, on the part of tax services. The authors of the statement tied the "attack" with political events, in particular, with those who were then prepared for the elections in Majilis. The United States expressed concern about the actions of the authorities, and the leading human rights organization of the world Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch and International Partnership for Human Rights stated that Kazakhstan's government agencies should stop pressure on NGOs and human rights defenders. On January 25, it became known that the tax authorities suspended the work of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and compliance with legality (KMBC) for three months. Director of the Bureau Yevgeny Zhovtis tied the suspension of the work of KMBCP with a negative assessment of the results of elections in Mazhilis, rallies in Belarus and the situation with the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Elections in Majilis and Maslikhats on party lists took place on January 10 from 7.00 to 20.00 local time for all regions.
On January 11, the OSCE observer mission stated that genuine competition was absent in the parliamentary elections. In addition, international observers criticized the work of the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan. Also, OSCE observers recorded explicit signs of bullings in the elections. On January 14, the United States expressed concern about the concerns of the OSCE on elections in Kazakhstan. The Public Foundation (PF) "Yerkіndіk Kanati" also stated that on January 10, one of the most serious and unfair elections in the history of Kazakhstan took place on January 10.
According to the CEC, as well as according to the results of Exit Poll, the victory won the NUR OTAN batch (76.49% of the votes on the results of the counts of the Central Election Commission). According to the official version, the necessary threshold for entering Majilis also scored the People's Party of Kazakhstan (10.94%) and the Democratic Party "Aқ Zhol" (9.2%). On January 11, Majilis VII deputies of convocation from the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan were also named.
On January 13, OO "Independent Observers" stated that the appearance of the election was 15% (and not more than 63%, as the Central Election Commission approves), and 12% of the ballots were corrupted by voters. According to the League of Young Voters (LMI), the threshold of 7%, necessary for passing into the Majilis, in the past parliamentary elections overcame all parties, and Nur Otan, contrary to official data, scored less than half of the votes.
Elections were accompanied by numerous pressure facts on independent observers and activists. Thus, the observers from the League of Young Voters were reported on pressure rendered, from the Public Foundation "Ate Daians", as well as from the Q-Adam Civil Initiatives Foundation.
It was also reported that the protesters are held in the frost in Almaty, among them a nursing mother, also reported about the facts of frostbite. Two clocks held by the security forces of activists were hospitalized with suspicion of frostbite.
On January 15, the first session of the Parliament of the new convocation was held, at which the deputies brought oath and determined the Speaker of the Mazhilis.
What other problems and violations are known on the election day in Majilis, read in the relevant material of the KazTAG agency.