“I ask you to remove this photojournalist, because they are photographing the monitor, where scenes of violence are shown,” said Zhanna Urazbakhova, lawyer of the victims, during the trial in the Bishimbayev case.
The judge asked the Russian blogger with a camera, whom the lawyer accidentally mistook for a photojournalist, to step aside where she could not see the materials.
“You can film from that side, please,” the judge said.
To which Grace began to object and the judge had to repeat the request.
Kazakh journalists were outraged by the behavior of the Russian blogger and asked not to allow her to participate in the trial. In addition, they said that in the press center Natalya Grace interfered with their work and expressed her “civil position” that Bishimbayev committed the murder in a state of passion.
“In the press room, Natalya said that Saltanat Nukenova’s brother Aytym was “profiting from the death of his sister.” She also told journalists in the corridor that she believed that Bishimbayev committed the murder in a state of passion because he was taking some kind of medication. When we asked her to leave the press room and not interfere with work, she stated that “she is not interfering with anyone and is expressing her position,” said journalists present in the press center.
Journalists, including the editorial staff of KazTAG, are asking the press service of the Supreme Court why a Russian citizen, who is not a media representative, has access to the courtroom and its coverage.
Photo source: picture from an open source