Lawyer Valerian Vakhitov appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kyrgyzstan with a petition to initiate a criminal case into the death of a human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov. He told 24.kg news agency.
According to the lawyer, the Prosecutor General’s Office accepted this request and appointed an investigator from the State Penitentiary Service.
«But I challenged him since the employee of the State Penitentiary Service is an interested person and should not be involved in the investigation. As a result, the materials were sent to other state body. They plan to interrogate Askarov’s widow Khadicha. If the case is obscured or terminated, we will turn to the UN Human Rights Committee,» Valerian Vakhitov said.
Azimzhan Askarov died in the hospital of the prison colony No. 47 on July 25, 2020. According to the conclusion of the medical examination, the death was caused by acute respiratory failure.
