http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/26/europe/EU-GEN-OSCE-Kazakhstan-Insult-Laws.php
OSCE media watchdog calls for abolition of insult laws in Kazakhstan The Associated Press Published: January 26, 2007 VIENNA, Austria: The media freedom watchdog at a key European security organization called Friday for the abolition of special insult laws in Kazakhstan and urged the country's public officials to be more tolerant of criticism. In a letter to Kazakh Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin, Miklos Haraszti, media freedom representative at the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the laws, which give elevated protection to public officials from verbal insults, are undemocratic. Haraszti made his plea after a Kazakh court on Monday gave journalist Kazis Toguzbaev a two-year suspended prison sentence for deliberately intending to insult the honor and dignity of the president, an OSCE statement said. "For the sake of free public discussion, public officials, especially heads of state, should exercise a greater degree of tolerance toward criticism, even if that criticism is expressed in a negative or harsh manner," Haraszti said in the statement. Haraszti also expressed regret that the country's antidefamation laws could soon be tightened by new amendments under consideration in Kazakhstan's parliament. "A reform that adheres to international standards, including those of the Council of Europe, would mean moving the handling of defamation offenses from the criminal into the civil law domain," Haraszti said. In December, the OSCE put off, until next year, a vote on the ex-Soviet republic's bid to chair the group in 2009 due to the country's failure to meet the trans-Atlantic security and democracy group's democratic standards. Soon after the OSCE move, Nazarbayev lifted restrictions on holding public protests during elections. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
