Azimjan Askarov

The trial of human rights defender Mr Azimjan Askarov has been scheduled to take place on 2 September 2010 in Nooken regional court, close to Bazar Korgon in the Jalalabad region of south Kyrgyzstan. The presiding judge will reportedly come from Bazar Korgon.

Further Information

A prominent human rights defender and director of the human rights organisation “Vozdukh” (Air), based in Bazar Korgon, Azimjan Askarov is facing charges in relation to the recent ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Azimjan Askarov has been charged with various offences under the Criminal Code of Kyrgyzstan, including Art. 28, 30-227 (”attempting to participate in hostage taking”), Art. 241 (”illegal acquisition and storage of ammunition”), Art. 299-2 (“acquisition and storage of extremist information”) , Article 299 (“initiation of national, race, religious hatred, insult of national dignity, propaganda of supremacy or deficiency of citizens on the basis of their religious, national or race background”), Art. 233 (“mass riots”), Art. 30-97 (“co-participation in murder”), and Art. 30-340, (“co-participation in murder of police officers”).

Azimjan Askarov's charges were initiated in relation to the events of 13 June 2010. During violence between ethnic Kyrgyzs and Uzbeks in Bazar Korgon, a policeman from Bazar Korgon Department of Internal Affairs, Mr M. Sulaymanov, was killed while seven other policemen were injured. Azimjan Askarov was arrested in connection to the killing on 15 June and has been held since then in Jalalabad police station, the same station where the deceased policeman formerly worked.

Azimjan Askarov's lawyer, Mr Nurbek Toktakunov, filed a petition for the trial to be postponed and transfered fron Bazar Korgon to Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital. Following previous violent attacks on Nurbek Toktakunov and relatives of Azimjan Askarov, there are serious grounds to believe that the human rights defender will not recieve a fair trial if the hearing takes place in Bazar Korgon. In two separate incidents, Nurbek Toktakunov and Azimjan Askarov's sister in law were assaulted within Jalalabad police station by mobs which included relatives of the deceased policeman, with the complicity of local police who stood by during the attacks.

Furthermore, there have been reliable reports that Azimjan Askarov was beaten and tortured during interrogation following his arrest. On 26 July 2010, Jalalabad City Court upheld a decision by the General Prosecutor's Office of Jalalabad not to investigate claims that Azimjan Askarov was tortured or ill-treated. The General Prosecutor's office claims that bruises to Azimjan Askarov's body which were photographed by Nurbek Toktakunov were caused by his cellmate, that the human rights defender has denied that he was ill-treated and that he does not want the cellmate to be investigated for assault. In addition Azimjan Askarov has reportedly been prevented from meeting Nurbek Toktakunov in private to work on the case.

Front Line reiterates its previous calls for the immediate transfer of Azimjan Askarov to a more secure place of detention in Bishkek, failing his immediate and unconditional release from detention. Front Line believes that the detention and prosecution of Azimjan Askarov are directly linked to his peaceful activities in the defense of human rights, and views this case as illustrative of the deteriorating situation for human rights defenders in the context of the ethnic violence taking place in south Kyrgyzstan.

Please see the original Front Line Urgent Appeal on this case.