Six leading international organizations focused on press freedom and human rights — including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) — have made a formal public appeal to Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, calling on him to dismiss pending criminal charges against four independent journalists currently held under house arrest and roll back restrictive media legislation that erodes free press in the Central Asian nation.
In an official letter delivered to Tokayev on Monday, the coalition raised sharp alarms over what they characterize as an accelerating wave of journalist detentions and systematic harassment of Kazakhstan’s independent media ecosystem. The document spotlights the high-profile cases of four established independent reporters: Gulnara Bazhkenova, Amir Kasenov, Aset Matayev, and Botagoz Omarova. All four are currently confined to their homes as they await trial on unspecified criminal charges. The groups emphasized that mounting pressure and intimidation tactics have made independent reporting in the country increasingly unsustainable, writing that “a rising tide of harassment is rendering the work of independent Kazakh media increasingly difficult.”
Beyond calling for the release of the four detained journalists and the withdrawal of all charges filed against reporters for their professional work, the coalition is pushing for major revisions to Kazakhstan’s laws around the dissemination of information, specifically urging the government to loosen overly broad restrictions on so-called “false information” that are frequently used to target critical independent voices.
The letter also outlines a broader pattern of restrictive actions against independent media outlets operating in the country. The coalition notes that Kazakh authorities have withheld official accreditation from dozens of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalists for months, and have fully blocked the independent domestic news outlet ResPublika. The groups argue these moves “appeared to have little justification beyond a desire to obstruct these outlets’ reporting.”
Additionally, the organizations document widespread censorship on digital platforms: dozens of prominent Kazakh journalists, independent outlets, and press freedom advocacy groups have reported that their social media accounts and published content have been blocked or removed in recent months, following what the groups describe as “spurious and apparently orchestrated complaints.”
The coalition warned Tokayev that the cumulative effect of these crackdowns poses a direct threat to his stated reform agenda. “Mr. President, collectively these attacks on the press threaten to create a climate of fear and self-censorship that irreparably undermines the credibility of your reform agenda,” the letter reads.
As of Tuesday, Tokayev’s office has declined to issue any comment on the appeal from the international groups.
The appeal comes amid a major political shift in Kazakhstan, just one month after Tokayev’s proposed package of constitutional changes won overwhelming approval in a national referendum. The reforms have cemented the 72-year-old leader’s grip on power in Central Asia’s largest country.
A former Soviet bureaucratic official and career Kazakh diplomat who previously held senior roles at the United Nations, Tokayev is currently bound by existing rules to a single seven-year presidential term set to expire in 2029. Independent political analysts widely speculate that the constitutional referendum was structured to allow Tokayev to reset his presidential term limits, clearing a path for him to stay in power beyond 2029.
Since international sanctions were imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Tokayev has carefully navigated a diplomatic balancing act between Moscow and Western powers, framing his constitutional overhaul as a necessary adjustment to enable faster, more decisive governance amid a rapidly shifting global geopolitical landscape.