A Kazakhstan court has ordered a reporter for Current Time to leave the country and has banned her from re-entering for five years, citing violations of the country’s immigration regulations.The court in Nur-Sultan on Friday ordered Zhazgul Egemberdieva, a Kyrgyztan national, to leave within 10 days.Kazakh officials alleged Egemberdieva failed to notify immigration authorities that she was staying in Kazakhstan longer than 30 days.Management officials with Current Time, a Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, said they were investigating the circumstances of the order.Egemberdieva had been in Kazakhstan since May 3 as part of Current Time’s coverage of the June 9 presidential election.The vote, which was won by Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, the handpicked successor of longtime ruler Nursultan Nazarbaev, was criticized by international observers who cited “detentions of peaceful protesters, and widespread voting irregularities on election day [that] showed scant respect for democratic standards.”Egemberdieva had been scheduled to help in coverage of more anti-government protests that were taking place in Nur-Sultan on Saturday.Journalists harassedReporters for Current Time and RFE/RL in general have faced increased scrutiny and harassment in Kazakhstan and Central Asia more broadly in recent years.Ahead of the Kazakh presidential election, more than a half dozen RFE/RL reporters, producers and videographers were denied accreditation to cover the vote.During the vote itself, several reporters from RFE/RL and other media were briefly detained by Kazakh authorities.
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