The government in Kazakhstan appears to have taken over the newspaper Karavan, the International Press Institute announced Monday.

The weekly newspaper received a letter, dated Aug. 6, from the printing house Asia Press stating it would no longer produce the paper. Karavan's management received a letter at the same time from the office's landlord, stating they must vacate immediately.

Since the two letters were received, the newspaper's editors have not been able to enter the office, and an almost identical-looking version of the newspaper began being published by the Kazakh government, which has allegedly used “threats and bribes” to keep on most of the newspaper's staff members, IPI reported.

“The de facto takeover of Karavan appears to be part of a concerted campaign of harassment against media outlets owned by President Nursultan Nazarbayev's former son-in-law, Rakhat Aliyev,” said Johann P. Fritz, IPI's director, in a press release.

On May 24, an Almaty court banned Karavan for three months, saying the newspaper had violated unspecified media regulations. On June 4, Karavan's Web site was ordered to be closed by the prosecutor general, who said it had revealed secret details of the investigation into the kidnapping of two managers working for Nurbank, the commercial bank. Kazakh authorities say Aliyev, a part owner of Nurbank, ordered the abduction of the bankers.

“Whatever the alleged crimes of the media owner, the Kazakh government's actions do not justify the takeover or closure of media organisations and are a further sign of the deterioration of press freedom in Kazakhstan,” Fritz said in the statement.