Kazakhstan Declares Some 700 Websites 'Extremist' In 2014

The prosecutor general's office in Kazakhstan announced on January 23 that reviews on the Internet during 2014 determined more than 700 websites contained material considered "extremist" and were ordered blocked.

A statement on the Kazakh prosecutor general's website said that in an effort to counter religious extremism and terrorism, the office had checked more than 100,000 websites in 2014.

The prosecutor general's office provided information about the sites to Kazakh courts, which found 703 of those sites had contents that were extremist in nature and ordered those sites blocked in Kazakhstan.

Prosecutor general Askhat Daulbaev said some of the sites were blocked even before there was a court decision to back such a move.

Daulbaev said his office had worked with its Russian counterpart during 2014 to locate and block sites with extremist content and added he hoped that cooperation could serve as a model with Kazakhstan's "colleagues close to our borders and further away."

prokuror.gov.kz, tengrinews.kz, regnum.ru