At the session of Kazakh
Parliament's Lower Chamber - Mazhilis, held today, February 27, a
group of deputies led by Serikbay Alibayev officially sent a query
to Kazakh Minister of Culture, Information and Social Concord
Mukhtar Qul-Mukhammet, asking to give explanations over situation
faced by a private TV-company "Irbis" in Pavlodar, Northern
Kazakhstan and Respublika weekly in Almaty. All publishing houses
in Almaty refuse to print Respublika's outputs, meanwhile Pavlodar
City Court has ruled to suspend Irbis television station's
operations for three months. According to Serikbay Alibayev, such
events are politically motivated and may be defined as attempts to
curb press freedom in Kazakhstan.
RFE/RL'S KAZAKH NEWS,
FEBRUARY 27, 2002
News are based upon
report sent by correspondents of RFE/RL - Aselim Qalken-Qyzy,
Kenzhebek Nurqasen-Uly (Astana), Batyrkhan Darimbet, Gulmira Hamza
(Almaty).