ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Police in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, have launched a probe into an alleged attack against the son of noted journalist Dinara Egeubaeva by an unknown person armed with a pistol.
The Almaty city police department said on February 6 that it had registered Egeubaeva's complaint and started an investigation into it.
Egeubaeva said a day earlier that her son was approached by a man with a pistol in his hand late in the evening and managed to escape an attack by fleeing and then hiding in a residential building.
Egeubaeva insists that the attack was linked to her professional activities.
Last month, unknown attackers broke a window of Egeubaeva's car before setting the vehicle on fire. Egeubaeva linked that attack with her professional activities as well.
Police said later that they apprehended a group of teenagers suspected of the arson attack, but it remains unclear who ordered the assault.
The Almaty-based Adil Soz (A Just Word) group, which monitors journalists' rights, said last month that at least five journalists have been attacked in Kazakhstan since January 1.
Egeubaeva has been writing and reporting about the first anniversary of the violent dispersal of anti-government protests that turned into mass disorder and left at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead.
She has also announced her decision to take part in early parliamentary elections scheduled for March 19.
Last month, the New-York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the embassies of several Western countries urged the Kazakh authorities to investigate the attacks on journalists.
