Associated Press
August 30

One morning this spring, a beheaded dog was left hanging outside an office window of an opposition newspaper in Kazakhstan with a message attached: "This is the last warning."

Two days later, assailants threw fire bombs into the newspaper's then-vacant office, completely destroying the premises. Two men have been arrested, but authorities blame the owner of the paper itself for orchestrating the fire — a charge he calls absurd.

Across Central Asia, independent media are under threat — facing violence, government pressure or lawsuits — as even leaders who took small steps to democracy now move backward. The situation has worsened despite renewed Western interest in the region after Sept. 11 and the arrival of foreign troops for operations in nearby Afghanistan.

Kazakhstan, where an opposition is at least allowed to exist, is one of the more open countries in the region despite the firebomb attack on the Business Review Republic. The newspaper has been battling the government over alleged legal problems with its business.

Still, most independent Kazakh media, accused of similar technical violations, have been treading in equally dangerous waters and face lawsuits, raids by officials or have simply had their electricity cut.

"The year 2002 has been the darkest year for Kazakh media since we became independent 10 years ago," said Seytkazy Matayev, chairman of the Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan.

Independent media in Kyrgyzstan have been under similar pressure as the opposition has tried to capitalize on the impoverished population's growing impatience with authorities. In March, the country saw its first political violence since independence from the Soviet Union, which claimed five lives.

The popular Respublika and Moya Stolitsa newspapers were forced to close earlier this year through various lawsuits. The editor of the opposition Kyrgyz-language Asaba newspaper was forced to leave after the newspaper went bankrupt because of huge libel suits and was taken over by a new owner.

The open clash in Tajikistan between the government and the Islamic opposition during the 1992-1997 civil war loosened state control over journalists. However, 47 journalists died during the war and the violence-marred reconciliation period. The two sides blamed the killings on one another.

In December 1995, the body of a British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent, Muhiddin Olimpur, was found with a bullet wound in the head in the capital, Dushanbe. Jumahon Hotami, a TV crime commentator known for insights into the nation's huge illicit drug trade, was shot dead in July 1999. The murders still haven't been solved.

"Freedom of speech in Tajikistan exists only on paper. It may have existed before, but after the deaths of journalists who tried to speak openly, many journalists working today are simply afraid to express their opinion if it differs from the official one," said Muhiddin Idizoda, editor of the opposition Nadjot newspaper.

Uzbekistan, which has one of the region's poorest human rights records, formally abolished censorship in May. But rights advocates say the move is just a ploy to improve the country's image after joining the U.S.-led anti-terrorist campaign.

Three Uzbek journalists have been jailed. In May, unidentified assailants beat a reporter, Dilmurod Said, after he wrote of soaring unemployment. Police witnessed the beating but did nothing.

In the most isolated and restrictive Central Asian nation, Turkmenistan, the three TV channels simultaneously air the same news program. Web sites run by the exiled opposition are not accessible in the country.

In Kazakhstan, the birth last year of a dissident movement, the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, triggered increased persecution of independent media.

Some are suffering for openly supporting the opposition, others because they are owned by the opposition. Mukhtar Ablyazov, former energy minister turned opposition leader, is one of the founders of TAN TV — a television station that was forced off the air after airing a report on an opposition demonstration. Ablyazov is now on trial for abuse of power.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, who heads a media company that includes several TV channels, says the government-media friction is caused by inexperience.

"On the one hand we have the authorities, who only now are learning how to work with public opinion, and on the other hand there is the press, which does not know yet how to use freedom of speech," she told a recent media forum in Almaty.

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