A Kazakh court has ordered a reporter for Current Time to leave the country and banned her from entering for five years, citing violations of the country's immigration regulations.
The court in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan on July 5 ordered Zhazgul Egemberdieva, a Kyrgyz national, to leave within 10 days.
Kazakh officials alleged that she failed to notify immigration authorities that she was staying in Kazakhstan longer than 30 days.
Суд в Казахстане вынес решение о депортации корреспондента Настоящего Времени
The management of 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 ongoing 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 antigovernment protests that were taking place in Nur-Sultan on July 6.
Reporters 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.