The Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan set date of review of the criminal case of the human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, upon new evidence. Askarov’s lawyer Valerian Vakhitov told 24.kg news agency.
According to him, the hearing will be held on February 25. «Azimzhan Askarov does not plead guilty and insists: Kyrgyzstan must fulfill international obligations, that is recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee. In addition, we will strive for cancelation of the arrest imposed on Askarov’s house. This is his only property,» Valerian Vakhitov said.
He noted that Azimzhan Askarov wrote a separate appeal to the Ombudsman, which indicates that the verdict against him was made illegally and under pressure, and demands to cancel it.
On December 2, 2019, the Supreme Court decriminalized a number of counts and commuted the punishment of the human rights defender under certain articles. However, the main article of the charge «Complicity in Murder» of the Criminal Code, under which Azimzhan Askarov received the life sentence, remained.
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.
