Watchdog

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A court has shut down one of Kazakhstan's very few independent publications, known for its criticism of government policies.

The Medeu district court in Almaty ruled on October 22 that the Adam (Human) magazine and its Facebook page must be shut down for violating the law on languages.

The magazine was suspended and its editors were fined in August after another Almaty court ruled that the publication violated the language law by carrying its content in Russian only.

The Kazakh law requires media outlets to carry at least half of their content in Kazakh, the state language.

The Adam publication was launched in March as a successor of the Adam Bol (Be a Human) magazine that was shut down in December 2014 for "propagating war."

That ruling came weeks after Adam Bol published an interview with opposition activist Aidos Sadyqov, who lives in exile in Ukraine.

In the interview, Sadyqov lambasted Russia for its involvement in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine.

ALABUGA, Russia -- Police in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan have detained activists of the Tatar Public Center (TIU) and an RFE/RL correspondent.

On October 21, police and Investigative Committee officers rushed into the premises in the city of Alabuga, where some 40 activists of the TIU's local branch were holding their gathering, and demanded identification documents from the activists.

Those who did not have internal passports, including RFE/RL correspondent Gafiulla Gazizov, who was at the site to cover the gathering, were forcibly taken to a police station.

Gazizov told RFE/RL by phone that police confiscated his video camera and broke his photo camera.

No explanation for the detainment was given, while the activists say the authorities' goal was to disrupt the gathering.

The TIU, with many branches across Tatarstan, is an NGO that campaigns to preserve Tatars' national identity, language, and culture.