Open letter to the General Prosecutor regarding Mr. Askarov

OPEN LETTER

to the General Prosecutor of the Kyrgyz Republic

Ms.Aida Salyanova

Paris-Geneva, July 18, 2012

Re: Request to reopen the case of Mr. Askarov, Director of the human rights organisation “Vozdukh” (Air) based in Jalal-Abad region

Ms. General Prosecutor,

We are writing to express our concern regarding the continued arbitrary detention of Mr. Azimjan Askarov, sentenced to life imprisonment, and the refusal on July 11, 2012 of the Jalal-Abad Regional Prosecutor's Office to allow the resumption of the investigation, after new facts were brought to its knowledge.

Mr. Askarov was arrested on June 15, 2010 by agents of the police department of Bazar Korgon, South of Kyrgyzstan, for having allegedly: urged ethnic Uzbeks, along with other leaders of the Uzbek community, to take the district official, Mr. A. Artykov,hostage; ordered the blockade of the Bishkek-Osh Highway by some 500 armed protesters, and attacked police officers causing the death of one of them, Mr. Sulaimanov. On December 20, 2011, the Kyrgyz Supreme Court upheld the sentence to life imprisonment of Mr. Azimjan Askarov following obvious violations of fair trial standards[1].

However, in February and March 2012, two lawyers of the Human Rights Centre “Citizens against corruption”, Messrs. Valeryan Khalitov and Husanbay Saliyev, together with lawyer Evgenia Krapivina, collected a series of testimonies of witnesses of the events of Bazar Korgon. They interrogated local inhabitants, collected videotaped statements as well as written statements whichwere certified by a notary. All of the witnesses unanimously asserted that Mr. Askarov was not present on the bridge where Mr.