Judicial harassment / Kazakhstan January 28, 2021 The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Kazakhstan. Description of the situation: The Observatory has been informed by the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR) about the judicial harassment of the KIBHR and the International Legal Initiative (ILI Foundation), two FIDH member organisations working in Kazakhstan, over the alleged violations of financial reporting procedure. On January 25, 2021, the district office of the Almaty City Department of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan ruled to fine and suspend the activities of the KIBHR and the ILI Foundation. After inspecting thousands of pages of the organisations' reports over several years, the tax authorities drew up multiple protocols on the violation of Article 460-1 of the Code of Administrative Offences for allegedly “inaccurate information” provided by the NGOs in their financial reporting documents. Each of the protocols entails a fine of over 500 000 tenge (approximately 974 Euros) and the suspension of the activities of the organisations for up to three months.