This article was written by Dmitriy Mazorenko and Paolo Sorbello for Vlast.kz. An edited version is republished on Global Voices under a media partnership agreement. In 2022, Adil Soz, a foundation for the defense of freedom of speech, recorded 32 incidents of attacks against journalists in Kazakhstan. This number is four times higher than in the previous year. And since Qandy Qantar (Kazakh for “Bloody January,” the violent repression of urban protests of January 2022), attacks have become even more frequent. Journalists and experts said the current situation resembles the era of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. There seems to be little support from the state, which has stalled the search for the perpetrators of the attacks. More violence could now be on the horizon. In 2023, attacks and threats against journalists have reached a new level. “Just in the first month, we recorded at least seven incidents. These journalists were targeted for their professional activity,” Karlygash Jamankulova, head of Adil Soz, told Vlast. In mid-January, unidentified individuals set fire to Dinara Yegeubayeva’s car. Yegeubayeva regularly criticized the government’s decisions, and has applied to run for a seat in parliament with the civic coalition Altynshy Qantar (Kazakh for “January 6”). A few days later, journalist Vadim Boreiko, host of the Giperborei YouTube channel, reported that three young men tried to block the door to his apartment in Almaty. Boreiko said he already received threats in September, ahead of the announcement of early presidential elections. At the time, an acquaintance called Boreiko to relay the words of an unnamed “silovik” (a person in or close to law enforcement structures): If the journalist avoided mentioning President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the next two months, he would receive monetary compensation. “This was definitely a way to see if I would fall for a bribe. This is how they generally deal with independent journalists. First they negotiate ‘in a nice way,’ then they try with a bribe, then they try to discredit you, and then they move onto intimidating you,” Boreiko told Vlast in an interview. Boreiko could not say who plotted the latest attack, although he said that so many incidents in such a short period could indicate coordination. Political analyst Dosym Satpayev fielded three possible hypotheses to explain the current situation. First, the attacks could be organized by people close to Nazarbayev to discredit Tokayev’s image. Second, the pressure on journalists could be beneficial for Tokayev to keep them in check and at the same time purportedly act as a guarantor of their security. The third hypothesis is based on the suspicion that the Russian government could be coordinating attacks on Kazakhstani media and journalists who have supported Ukraine’s position in the war. International lobby groups for media freedom are calling the government to investigate the incidents and ensure a punishment for the perpetrators and those behind them. Speaking to Vlast, Boreiko noted that these instances of violence are reminiscent of the Nazarbayev era. He recalled the shutting down of the Respublika opposition newspaper in 2012. “At the time, they set fire to the editorial office, hung a dead dog outside their window. But I don’t remember such a massive campaign directed against several media outlets and individual journalists,” Boreiko said. Between the 1980s and 1995, Kazakhstan enjoyed relative freedom in the media sphere, according to the veteran journalist. Then, after the “second Nazarbayev Constitution,” violence and censorship became commonplace. Between 2000 and 2015, Adil Soz counted at least 250 incidents against the media in Kazakhstan. In 2000, Aktobe journalist Dulat Tulegenov died after falling out of a window on the fourth floor of a building. Just before his death, which was never properly investigated, he published an article about allegations of abuse of power by local officials. Only between January and February 2009, three violent incidents took place. Radio Azattyq’s editor Yermek Boltai was beaten and suffered a concussion and minor injuries; Bakhytzhan Nurpeissov, a correspondent for independent newspaper Public Position, was beaten by five aggressors in Almaty, suffering a head injury; Artem Miusov, journalist working for the Taszhargan newspaper, was stabbed and severely injured. In 2012, in Uralsk, journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov was attacked and stabbed. Later that same year, Ularbek Baitalak, a freelance journalist writing for opposition newspapers, was beaten up in Astana. According to Adil Soz, between 2015 and 2020, attacks against journalists became less frequent. Fewer than 10 attacks were recorded annually.