Criminal case against sentenced to life in prison human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov was considered the day before in the Chui Regional Court based on newly discovered facts. Change in the prison term and release of the head of the human rights organization Vozdukh (Air) were denied.
According to representatives of Amnesty International, the court decision testifies to the triumph of injustice in Kyrgyzstan. «What prevented the authorities from fulfilling their obligations according to international law and the country’s Constitution regarding the prisoner of conscience Azimzhan Askarov? The short answer to this question is a total neglect of human rights,» said Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Director of Amnesty International for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The Askarov’s case has already been reviewed two years ago due to newly discovered circumstances in connection with the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee, which recognized that the human rights activist was arbitrarily detained and subjected to torture. Moreover, Azimzhan Askarov was kept in conditions degrading human dignity, and was also deprived of the right to a fair trial.
The human rights activist was sentenced to life imprisonment. He is accused of inciting ethnic hatred and murder of a policeman during the June events in the south of the republic in 2010.
