Kazakh Journalist Describes Beatings, DDoS Attacks & "Culture of Fear"

I apologize in advance for this video. I had to blur the face and distort the voice of this journalist, to protect him from the brutal reprisals that are becoming almost commonplace in Kazakhstan. I wish that I could show you the blood clot in this mans eye, or the fading bruises at the corners of his mouth.

I wish that you could see the way he hunches his shoulders when talking about the beating, stomping and kicking orgy of violence that landed him in the hospital recently, or the anger that replaces that fear when he talks of the beatings that have been inflicted on his colleagues.

I wish that you could hear in his voice the raw sadness and sense of loss that is evident when he talks about the feeble protests that are the only act of defiance left to them, and how even that is being systematically taken away.

But I cannot. I cannot bring this story to you in this open and honest way; maybe it is paranoia, but if it is, then it is well-founded paranoia. The pervasive fear that has been pounded into journalists in Kazakhstan is communicable, and if I have succumbed to it as well, so be it. I would rather err on the side of caution with these interviews than expose some of the people in them to further harm. This is also why I have beeped out the names of some of the other recent victims, as well as other information that would make it easy to identify this person.

I do recognize that this journalists voice and accent make what he is saying a little hard to understand, and so I am adding subtitles.

The worst thing for these journalists is the feeling of being utterly alone; that the daily outrages against them have covered up, denied, made to disappear as they themselves are being made to vanish, one by one. I almost didnt post this video, because well, really, its kind of an embarrassment. Bad picture, bad sound what else is there?

But I decided that it was more important to prove that this person existed; that he lived and breathed and walked this earth. And that he took the time to speak with me, to plead for someone in the outside world to pay attention to what was being done to freedom and those who believe that the internet represents the last, best hope of writers and photographers and editors who dare to speak truth to power.

I owe them all this much, at least.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Kazakhstan
• journalism
• freedom
• censorship
• violence
• beating
• fear
• paranoia