Kazakhstan flag hangs upside down next to UNICEF office in Astana

Kazakhstan flag is hanging upside down next to UNICEF office in Astana, Tengrinews.kz reports. “Kazakhstan state flag was hoisted next to the children’s mission of the United Nations in Kazakhstan in the presence of Astana administration’s representative who registered the process. The name of this person is not disclosed. Today we received a call from Tengrinews about the flag hanging upside down. We checked on it. The wire got shifted down and that’s why the flag changed its orientation, because a strong wind was blowing in Astana in the last two days. We are currently trying to correct the situation. We are not going to punish anyone for this accident,” public relations coordinator of UNICEF Kazakhstan Sultan Kudaibergenov said and thanked Tengrinews for the information. UNICEF shares its office building with Kazakhstan Finance Ministry’s Customs Control Commission, where Kazakhstan flag is twisted around the flagstaff. Zhastar Palace nearby got into focus as well: it has a flag with torn cloth. After a series of incidents with the state symbols of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev recently signed a law toughening punishment for contempt of state symbols. The law now has higher penalties for abuse of the state symbols and stipulates a administrative responsibility for violation of the national standards during production of the state symbols and toughens responsibility for violation of the terms of use of state symbols. By Danial Okassov