Tolegen Imanov

Affiliated media: TV channel Khabar, Cameraman

Incident date: August 2, 2021

Attack type:

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

Who attacked: Non-authorities

Source: Adil Soz

Location: Kazakhstan, North Kazakhstan Province, Petropavlovsk

Additional information:

The film crew of the TV channel Khabar — journalists Samat Dzhakupov and Natalya Volkova, as well as cameraman Tolegen Imanov — were attacked by security guards at the Dostyk Mall shopping and entertainment centre. The journalists were filming a story about the work of the project ASHYQ, a system that shows a person’s COVID status. During the filming, they were approached by the administrators of the centre, to whom the journalists introduced themselves, showed their journalist IDs and explained the purpose of the filming. However, a senior Dostyk Mall security officer ordered his subordinates to kick out the film crew, after which the guards attacked the journalists with fists. The journalists filed complaints with the police about obstruction of professional activities.