On May 13, there was the hearing in the Supreme court of Kyrgyzstan to consider the cassation appeal of human rights activist, Azimzhan Askarov, against the sentence of the Chui Regional court of January 24, 2017.
On January 24, 2017, the Chui Regional court upheld the sentence of life imprisonment passed on Azimzhan Askarov earlier. The Supreme court upheld the verdict.
The hearing was held without the participation of Azimzhan Askarov. His interests were represented by lawyers of the human rights movement “One World”.
“We asked the court to terminate the criminal case against the human rights activist and release him, as prescribed by the UN Human Rights Committee. However, the court decided otherwise, leaving the sentence of the Chui Regional court on life imprisonment in force. We are outraged by this decision and how the hearing was held,” Valerian Vakhitov, advocate of human rights activist, said to ACCA.
According to him, only two of the victims were present at the court and a crowd of unknown people, who were extremely aggressive.
“In the courtroom, there were threats towards Askarov’s wife and the head of the human rights organization “One World”, Tolekan Ismailova. At a certain stage, the bailiffs even had to step in and calm the crowd,” the lawyer said.
It’s noted that the people in the courtroom met the verdict of the court with applause.
“Of course, we don’t agree with the decision of the Supreme court, but now we don’t have a clear plan on what to do next. Perhaps, we will file another cassation appeal for newly discovered circumstances. However, no decision has been made on this issue,” concluded Vakhitov.
Azimzhan Askarov was sentenced for life after inter-ethnic clashes in the South of Kyrgyzstan in 2010. According to investigators, he provoked riots and the murder of a police officer.
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