Kazakh Opposition Papers Forced Out of Print

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev is already preparing for the upcoming election (file photo) 26 September 2005 -- Six Kazakh opposition newspapers have been forced out of print after their printing house backed out of an agreement.

The AP today quotes Gulzhan Ergaliyeva, editor of the "Svoboda Slova" newspaper, as saying that the Vremya-Print press' refusal to publish is an attempt to shut down the opposition's voice ahead of 4 December presidential election.

Management at Vremya-Print has declined to comment. The move follows a recent wave of seizures of opposition newspapers and harassment of their distributors by authorities across Kazakhstan.

The six main opposition papers operating in Kazakhstan have a combined circulation of more than 400,000.

(AP)

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