Botagoz Omarova

Affiliated media: Telegram channel «Aitpa, Botagoz!», Journalist

Incident date: November 5, 2024

Attack type:

• Illegal impediments to journalistic activity, denial of access to information

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Adil Soz

Location: Kazakhstan, Mangystau Province, Aktau

Additional information:

An employee of the security service Kuzet did not let the author of the Telegram channel «Aitpa, Botagoz!», journalist Botagoz Omarova, into the courtroom to hear the criminal case of the employees of the oil service company. The guard obstructed Omarova, aggressively demanding that she speak the state language. Botagoz demanded that the court spokesperson be invited, saying that she had the right to be in court and to cover a public trial, and her right to choose which language to speak. Her words were ignored by the guard. Later, a bailiff came down to the gatehouse and apologised to the journalist and allowed her to enter the hearing.