Seitkazy Mataeva at the Forum of European and Asian Media, Moscow, 2009. (с) Ruslan Krivobok / RIA Novosti. All rights reserved.These days, there’s no shortage of worrying news reports on the repression of activists and independent journalists in Kazakhstan. If current trends continue, we can expect many more — a full chronicle of the destruction of freedom of speech in our country would require an article in itself. The case against Seitkazy Mataev and his son Aset sums up the contempt for freedom and legal rights which have characterised Kazakhstan’s politics since independence. As the director of the popular KazTag news agency and chairman of the country’s Union of Journalists and National Press Club, Seitkazy Mataev is a high-profile figure. In February, Seitkazy and Aset were charged with tax evasion and embezzling funds from their organisations’ budgets.
During the trial, the defence presented reams of legal documentation and materials published by KazTag as part of a state contract. The court was provided with 30 volumes of financial records, collected by an independent auditor, attesting to the legality of the Mataevs’ business practices. Neither the police investigators, prosecutors nor the court bothered to review these materials. All the papers are there — proof of work undertaken and payments made, undersigned by officials at the Ministry of Information and KazakhTelekom.
Nevertheless, employees of these organisations are under pressure from the financial crimes unit to accuse the Mataevs of crimes they did not commit. In fact, KazTag and the National Press Club have been awarded state tenders for over five years — yet this is the first time we’ve heard of any wrongdoing.
