Kazakhstan: Olesya Vertinskaya physically assaulted and threatened
Location: Kazakhstan, Atyrau
Date: July 26, 2022
A man physically assaulted journalist Olesya Vertinskaya outside her home in the Western city of Ataryu last week, days after she received threatening messages warning her against her reporting. The perpetrator, who witnesses said had been lurking outside Olesya's home for around half an hour, broke her nose, kicked her, and then fled when a passerby approached. The Coalition For Women In Journalism strongly condemns the attack and demands swift legal action against the perpetrator whom the police claim to have arrested. We call for immediate measures to ensure Olesya's safety. Impunity for violence against journalists must end!
Olesya, a correspondent for independent news portal and advocacy group Dorozhniy Kontrol, was shifted to a local hospital by ambulance and treated for a broken nose before being discharged.
According to a report by Adil Soz, a local free speech organization, security footage of the attack and Olesya, the perpetrator approached the journalist outside her home on the morning of July 19, 2022, and asked her for help with a problem he said "only [she] could solve". He then punched her in the face and kicked her, again in the face, as she fell to the ground. Olesya told the Committee to Protect Journalists that the man fled the site when a passerby approached them.
Three days before the assault, on July 16, Olesya was sent a threatening text message by an unknown number, which referred to her recent news reports on local fish selling company and warned "to be careful". She received another message from the same number immediately after the attack. This time the sender warned that the company's owner "will not leave it at that".
According to its website, Dorozhniy Kontrol [Road Control] works for protection of the rights of road users in the Republic of Kazakhstan and covers incidents involving drivers as well as illegal actions of police officers. As a correspondent for the online publication, Olesya's reportage is primarily focused on the work of traffic police, the courts and other law enforcement bodies.
On July 15, the news portal's Atyrau branch published a video report depicting police shutting down stalls of a company selling fish. The stalls were reportedly set up without permission of the relevant authorities. The next day another report was published alleging that the said company had been selling protected species of fish.
Olesya started receiving threats on the same day. In the initial messages, the sender told the journalist that the owner of the said company was friends with the National Security Committee's head.
The attack on Olesya appears directly linked to her recent reportage revealing wrongdoing by the fish company. But the journalist has also reported on allegations of mistreatment by the National Security Committee's border guard department and other sensitive topics. She maintains that she does not have any personal enmities which could have prompted the assault.
Local news outlets reported on July 22 that the police have traced and detained a suspect in connection with the assault on Olesya but the alleged perpetrator's identity was not publicly disclosed. He is under investigation and could face up to three years in prison for assault.
While in custody the suspect reportedly told the police that he attacked the journalist in retaliation to her reporting on a local amusement park. But Olesya has expressed skepticism on this alleged motive as she said the authorities had sided with the park after this report was published.
This isn't the first time that Olesya has been subjected to threats and intimidation aimed at silencing her work. For her coverage of nationwide protests in Kazakhstan earlier this year, Olesya has been detained by the police twice. Law enforcement officers threatened her and also beat her. They reportedly forced the journalist to delete video footage during one of these detentions and said she should be shot and decapitated.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism expresses grave concern for Olesya Vertinskaya's safety. We extend support to the journalist and demand immediate legal action against those behind the threats to her life and person. All those responsible, including the attacker, those who sent him, and police and government officials involved, must be identified and held to account. Impunity for violence against journalists only leaves them vulnerable to further violence. We stress that it is incumbent on the authorities to ensure women journalists are free to do their work without fear of retaliation by the state or non-state actors. No country can thrive without a robust independent press, which can only exist if journalists feel safe to report on matters of public interest.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
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