SACHA BARON COHEN - U.S. CRITICIZES BORAT'S NATIVE LAND

A State Department report on human rights is likely to tarnish the image of Kazakhstan more thoroughly than Sacha Baron Cohen ever did with his Borat movie. The 2006 report issued Tuesday condemned the former Soviet republic for increased censorship, including pulling the plug on Baron Cohen's www.borat.kz web page last year and threatening him with legal retaliation for the movie. (He later changed the site to www.borat.tv.) The report also listed numerous additional human rights offenses by the Kazakh government.

07/03/2007