The U.S. State Department listed Borat as the victim of human rights abuses in Kazakhstan. On Wednesday, the State Department released its annual report on human rights abuses and included the fictional Kazakh journalist created by Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Borat was featured in Cohen’s recent satirical film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” Kazakhstan, which originally cited concerns regarding the anti-Semitic, misogynistic character, deemed Cohen’s Kazakh Web site offensive and closed it down in 2005, the U.S. report said. Cohen moved the site to a domain not controlled by the Kazakh government, www.borat.tv. The State Department added that Kazakhstan generally limits free speech and has no independent judicial system, and cited the murder last year of opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly, his bodyguard and driver as “unlawful deprivation of life.” The Kazakh government threatened to sue Cohen just before closing down his site. Cohen responded in character as Borat: “I… fully support my government’s position to sue this Jew.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
