Kazakh Veto Of Media Law Welcomed

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has announced that he has vetoed a controversial bill that would have imposed a new range of restrictions on the country’s media. Speaking before the Eurasian Media Forum, which opened April 22 in Almaty, Nazarbaev said he made the decision after the country’s Constitutional Council found the bill violated the Kazakh Constitution. "Taking into account the opinion of both the public and journalists, I decided not to object to the Constitutional Council’s decision. And as such, the new law on mass media has been rejected," Nazarbaev said. Nazarbaev declined to say whether the bill will be amended and re-submitted for parliamentary approval. OSCE Secretary-General Jan Kubis, appearing at the same conference, described Nazarbaev’s decision as "very welcome." Kazakhstan’s political opposition and media-rights groups had protested parliament’s passage of the media legislation in March. They said the bill’s stricter registration and licensing rules amounted to a clampdown on freedom of speech. The OSCE, the European Union, and the United States raised similar concerns.