Violation of freedom of expression following the unjustified State refusal to hold a single-person picket

Facts

The author, a national of Kazakhstan, is a journalist and blogger. He was scheduled to attend a public meeting of the Almaty citizens with the mayor, when half an hour before the meeting the police officers, waiting for him outside his house, apprehended him, took to the police department and accused of disobeying lawful orders of the police. On the same day the author was sentenced  to 15 days of administrative arrest by the district court. The author was not provided with legal counsel during the court proceedings. He challenged the decision before the appeal court and submitted two petitions to the prosecutor’s office for a supervisory review of the courts’ decisions, however, to no avail. The author claimed that the State party had violated her rights under article 14 (3) (b) (legal assistance), and of article 19 (2) (freedom of expression) of the Covenant.

Admissibility

Given that the author had not raised the legal assistance issue in his complaint before the appeal court, the Committee considered that the author had not exhausted all available domestic remedies concerning his claim under article 14 (3) (b) of the Covenant and found it inadmissible under article 5 (2) (b) of the Optional Protocol. The Committee further considered that the author had sufficiently substantiated his claims under article 19 (2) of the Covenant.

Merits

Despite the State party’s submission that the author was sanctioned not for trying to attend a public meeting as a journalist but for refusing to obey lawful police orders, the Committee, pointed out that the sequence of events and actions of the authorities against the author, amounted to a de facto restriction of the author’s rights under article 19 (2) of the Covenant. In the absence of the State party’s explanations as to how the imposed restriction represented a proportionate measure necessary to serve a legitimate purpose identified in article 19 (3) of the Covenant, the Committee considered that the restriction of the author’s right to freedom of expression constituted a violation of his rights under article 19 (2) of the Covenant.

Recommendations

The State party should:

• (a) take appropriate steps to provide adequate compensation to the author; and
• (b) take all steps necessary to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future, including by reviewing its domestic legislation, regulations and/or practices with a view to ensuring that the rights under the Covenant may be fully enjoyed in the State party.

Implementation

Deadline: 1 January 2023

By: Anna Gorodetskaya