New York, August 18, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Kazakh authorities to reinstate accreditation for 16 journalists with U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who have been denied accreditation since June, ahead of an expected court verdict in the outlet’s appeals hearing on August 19.

Under a media law enacted in 2024, foreign journalists are banned from working in Kazakhstan without accreditation. 

“RFE/RL’s bold reporting has an absolutely central place in Kazakhstan’s media sphere, and we await with deep concern a court verdict that could dramatically hinder its work,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kazakh authorities must allow RFE/RL to operate free from harassment and should reform overly restrictive foreign accreditation laws.”

According to RFE/RL’s Kazakh service, known locally as Radio Azattyq, the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected accreditation extension applications for its 16 journalists – including the service’s bureau chief – on the grounds that they had violated the ban on non-accredited journalistic work by continuing to work while the applications were pending.

RFE/RL said the ministry had failed to process the applications within the statutory two-month period, arguing that authorities had themselves “created the situation which they then used as a basis for denying accreditation.” The outlet further argued that the law’s ban on unaccredited activity of “foreign media and foreign journalists” does not cover the Radio Azattyq staff, who are all Kazakh citizens.

Last year, authorities similarly blocked accreditation for 36 RFE/RL staff for several months before reaching an agreement with the outlet. In a recent interview with CPJ, local service director Torokul Doorov told CPJ how authorities have used mass accreditation denials and throttling of the outlet’s website to pressure the service over its reporting on Kazakhstan’s president and deadly 2022 mass protests.

“It was clear then and it’s even clearer now that [the restrictive 2024 accreditation amendments] were devised for Radio Azattyq,” Gulmira Birzhanova, head of media support at the local advocacy group Legal Media Center, which is representing RFE/RL in its appeal, wrote in a Facebook post.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.