The European Union called on the Kyrgyz authorities to conduct an objective investigation into the death of well-known human rights defender Azimzhan Askarov.
An official statement in regards to the death in correctional colony No. 47 of Azimzhan Askarov, sentenced to life imprisonment, was released by the European External Action Service. It says that the European Union has been following the trial of the human rights defender since his arrest in 2010.
“Based on the 2016 conclusion of the UN Human Rights Committee, we have repeatedly expressed our position on the trial and called for the release of Askarov. The EU has expressed its concern to the Kyrgyz authorities about his deteriorating health. We deeply regret that, despite calls for his release on humanitarian grounds, Askarov died in custody. It is very important to find out the circumstances of his death and the conditions in which he was held in the last months of his life, ”said in the EU.
The “Open Society” Foundations also reacted to the death of a well-known Kyrgyz fighter for justice.
“In these tragic days, we mourn together with the wife and family of Azimzhan Askarov. Aside from the brutality of his incarceration over the past decade, we are shocked by the authorities’ failure to provide him with timely medical care or access to his family as his condition worsened, ”said Patrick Gaspar, President of the “Open Society” Foundations.
Shamil Ibragimov, Executive Director of the Soros-Kyrgyzstan Foundation, noted that Askarov’s premature death was evidence of “a deeply discredited justice system and a sad reminder that Kyrgyzstan was never able to fully address the issues of human rights violations and fair justice during the post-ethnic conflict in the 2010 year.”
Azimzhan Askarov died on the night of July 25 in the hospital of correctional colony No. 47. A few days before his death, his lawyer Valeryan Vakhitov visited his client and made sure that he was severely sick.
“During the conversation, Azimzhan sometimes uttered whistling uterine sounds, gasped for breath, and occasionally coughed. He said that he spends most of the time lying down, as he feels a breakdown. He cannot sleep at night, he suffers from nightmares, sometimes the temperature rises and falls sharply, ”said Valerian Vakhitov.
The inmate also complained of constant nausea and lack of appetite. Even though he had all the signs of community-acquired pneumonia, the prisoner did not receive proper assistance in the colony. Vakhitov managed to get Azimzhan Askarov to be transferred to the clinic literally a day before his death, but the doctors could not save the human rights defender – it was too late.
It should be noted that according to the State Penitentiary Service (SPS), the prison administration did everything to cure Askarov. The department denied that the deceased human rights activist had died of coronavirus infection and said that he himself refused to be transferred to a hospital and intensive treatment.
“On July 9, 2020, Azimzhan Askarov turned to the medical unit of institution No. 19 with complaints of general weakness and fever. After being examined by medical workers, he was several times recommended inpatient treatment in the conditions of the medical correctional institution No. 47 in Bishkek, which Askarov categorically refused. About what the relevant acts were drawn up and entered in the medical book, ”the State Penitentiary Service said in a statement.
Later, on July 16, employees of the specialized department of the Ombudsman’s Office of the Kyrgyz Republic arrived at the colony where Askarov was kept to discuss his health. The human rights activist allegedly also announced his disagreement with the transfer to IK-47 (a medical correctional institution).
“Despite the refusal from hospital treatment, on July 24, 2020 convict Askarov, given the severity of his condition, was forcibly transferred to IK-47 for examination and further treatment. Upon admission to IK-47 with a preliminary diagnosis of community-acquired right-sided pneumonia, convict Askarov was connected to an oxygen concentrate, the saturation level was 80-83. After that, the patient categorically resisted and removed the oxygen mask on his own. Askarov was under the supervision of the doctor on duty. In the morning at 09:30 on July 25 this year, convict Askarov turned off the oxygen concentrate again and at 10:30 a.m. biological death was declared, ”the State Penitentiary Service says.
The department emphasizes that the refusal has been documented, and the final cause of death will be established after an autopsy and appropriate forensic medical examinations. At the same time, it is specified that Azimzhan Askarov, who was serving a life sentence, was diagnosed with coronary heart disease, atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis, atherosclerosis of the coronary vessels, and cerebral vessels, dyscirculatory encephalopathy of mixed genesis, chronic cholecystitis, chronic pancreatitis and chronic pyelonephritis of left kidney.
Azimzhan Askarov’s lawyer Valerian Vakhitov told ACCA that he does not believe his client resisted attempts to treat him.
“I believe that now it is the concern of the special prosecutor’s office: to check all the facts and publish the conclusion. When I met with Azimjan on July 22, he had no intention of dying. He gave me many errands. He planned to learn English, asked for all the speeches of lawyers, he was preparing to continue the fight. And I can’t accept what happened, it’s implausible! When I left, I told him to hold on, and that he was loved and worried about him. After my words, he cried, cried for a long time. But there were no signs that he had decided to end his life, ”Vakhitov said.
According to him, he discussed with Askarov the transfer to colony No. 47.
“I wrote a statement addressed to the head of institution No. 19 about an urgent medical examination of Azimzhan Askarov when I saw how things were going. Askarov himself said that he was not opposed to being treated, but could not stand the trip in the wagon and asked to be taken by ambulance, ”the lawyer summed up.
We add, at 9:30 am on July 25, Bishkek time, Azimzhan Askarov passed away. He died in colony No. 47. He is still not buried. According to his last will, he should be buried in Uzbekistan. Right now, human rights activists are deciding whether to transfer Askarov’s body to his relatives in Tashkent.
Recall that Azimzhan Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek and director of a Kyrgyz human rights organization, documented the violence that erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010 when he was detained, tortured and sentenced to life in prison through a nominal trial.
Subsequently, Askarov filed an individual complaint in the case with the UN Human Rights Committee, where he was represented by a local team of lawyers and lawyers from the Open Society Justice Initiative. In 2016, the Committee found that Askarov had been arbitrarily detained, held in inhuman conditions and subjected to torture and ill-treatment, and ordered his immediate release and the cancellation of his sentence.
Askarov’s lawyers in Kyrgyzstan have repeatedly appealed his sentence and demanded his release according to the UN Human Rights Committee, but their efforts were ultimately rejected by the Kyrgyz Supreme Court.
In 2015, the US Department of State awarded Azimzhan Askarov the Human Rights Defender Award in tribute to his pre-arrest activities in drawing public attention to widespread law enforcement brutality. In 2012, he received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Amnesty International also called him a prisoner of conscience.
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