A well-known human rights activist serving his life sentence Azimzhan Askarov decided to appeal to the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan. He filed a cassation and demanded a review of his criminal case due to new circumstances. His lawyer Valeryan Vakhitov told 24.kg news agency.
Azimzhan Askarov does not agree with the decision of the Chui Regional Court, which upheld the life imprisonment verdict of lower instances.
«The court has not complied with the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee. This means that the Government violated agreements on a number of international treaties. Therefore, Azimzhan Askarov filed a lawsuit against the Cabinet of Ministers. In the appeal, which was sent to the Supreme Court, he indicated that he must attend the court hearings and state his arguments. In addition, he wrote letters to the UN special rapporteurs. We will send them the other day,» said Valeryan Vakhitov.
On December 2, the Supreme Court decriminalized a number of counts and commuted the punishment of the human rights defender under some articles. However, the main charge «Complicity in murder» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, for which he was sentenced to life in prison, remained unchanged.
Azimzhan Askarov is accused of inciting ethnic hatred and murder of a policeman during the June events in the south of the republic in 2010.
