Ainur Balakeshova

Affiliated media: Telegram group "patriot_patriot" , Administrator, Blogger

Incident date: November 17, 2021

Attack type:

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

Who attacked: Non-authorities

Source: Orda.kz

Location: Kazakhstan, Karaganda Region, Karagandy

Additional information:

Russian citizen did not let Kazakh journalists out of the police building in Karaganda. Karaganda-based journalists gathered in front of the department building to ask Russian citizen Alexey Kotov, who had previously reported on 20 years of labour slavery in the Karaganda region, why he renounced his statements. At the police station checkpoint, the Russian representative gave time for the fellow citizens to leave, after which he blocked the passage for about two minutes. The Kazakhstan police intervened only after the journalists were outraged, but by that time, Kotov had already left. The Russian representative also took the phone from Ainur Balakeshova, the Telegram channel «patriot_patriot» administrator. He was covering the view while she was filming. «He returned the phone after 30 seconds and turned off the video recording. He gave it back when my colleagues started to complain», – said Balakeshova.