URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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4 June 2004
UA 192/04 Imminent Execution
UZBEKISTAN Azizbek Karimov (m), aged 25
Azizbek Karimov is believed to be in imminent danger of
execution.
In February 2004 he was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court
of Uzbekistan on a number of charges including ''terrorism'' and
involvement in a religious extremist organization. He was accused
of serious crimes including involvement in a bomb attack on a
large market in Bishkek in the neighboring Republic of Kyrgyzstan
in December 2002, and an attack on a bank in the Kyrgyz town of
Osh in May 2003, that together left a total of eight people dead and
dozens injured.
Azizbek Karimov was reportedly beaten during his arrest in May
2003, and was taken unconscious from his home in the Uzbek
town of Andizhan. His family were reportedly not allowed to see
him for over six months and there are allegations that he was
tortured and ill-treated while kept in the detention facilities of the
National Service Service in Tashkent. His mother told Amnesty
International that during a court hearing somebody suddenly stood
up and poured acetic acid over him, causing Azizbek Karimov to
be hospitalized. The person responsible for the acid attack was
reportedly never punished.
On 3 June 2004 the United Nations Human Rights Committee
(HRC) urged the authorities of Uzbekistan to stay his execution,
following allegations that his arrest and sentencing violated key
principles of international law. Uzbekistan has in the past
repeatedly neglected similar interventions and has executed at least
11 men on whose behalf the HRC had intervened.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In September 2001, President Karimov publicly stated that around
100 people were executed in Uzbekistan each year. As the death
penalty is treated as a secret in Uzbekistan, comprehensive official
information on the numbers of sentences passed and executions
carried out is not publicly available.
The death penalty has played an important role in the clampdown
on ''religious extremism'' in the country. The authorities have, for
years, regarded ''Islamist fundamentalism'' as the key threat to the
country's security. Since 1998 at least 39 (possibly many more)
death sentences have been passed on men who were accused of
having committed capital crimes and labelled ''religious
extremists''. Concern has been voiced that the defendants' right to
be presumed innocent until guilt is proved beyond a reasonable
doubt has been violated.
Following his visit to Uzbekistan in November and December
2002, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture concluded
that ''torture or similar ill-treatment is systematic'' in Uzbekistan. In
his February 2003 report, he noted that ''the abolition of the death
penalty would be a positive step towards respect for the
prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment.''
In recent years the Uzbek authorities have arrested a number of
members of Azizbek Karimov's family. His father and uncle,
sentenced to long-term imprisonment in 1999 for ''religious
extremism'', both died in a prison colony, reportedly as a result of
torture.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive
as quickly as possible:
- urging the President to commute Azizbek Karimov's death
sentence and all other death sentences that come before him;
- urging the authorities to abide by the 3 June 2004 request by the
United Nations Human Rights Committee to stay Azizbek
Karimov's execution while his case is being considered, and
thereby honour Uzbekistan's obligation as a party to the Optional
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights;
- expressing concern about allegations that Azizbek Karimov was
tortured and ill-treated in pre-trial detention and urging the
authorities to open an impartial and thorough investigation into
these allegations;
- expressing sympathy for the victims of crime and their families,
but pointing out that the death penalty has never been shown to
deter crime more effectively than other punishments, and is
brutalizing to all those involved in its application.
APPEALS TO:
President of Uzbekistan:
Islam Abduganiyevich KARIMOV
Respublika Uzbekistan
700163 g. Tashkent
ul. Uzbekistanskaya, 43
Rezidentsia prezidenta
Prezidentu RU;
KARIMOVU I.A.
UZBEKISTAN
Telegram: Prezidentu Karimovu, 700163 Tashkent,
Uzbekistan
Salutation: Dear President Karimov
Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Sodiq Solihovich SAFOYEV
Respublika Uzbekistan
700029 g. Tashkent
pl. Mustakillik, 5
Ministerstvo inostrannykh del RU
Ministru Safoyevu, S.S.
UZBEKISTAN
Telegram: Foreign Affairs Minister, 700029, Tashkent,
Uzbekistan
Fax: 011 998 71 139 15 17
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
General Procurator of the Republic of Uzbekistan:
Rashidjon Hamidovich KODIROV
Respublika Uzbekistan
700047 g. Tashkent
ul. Gulyamova, 66
Prokuratura Respubliki Uzbekistan
Generalnomu prokuroru KODIROVU R. Kh
UZBEKISTAN
Telegram: General Procurator of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, 700047, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Fax: 011 998 71 133 39 17
Salutation: Dear Procurator General
Ambassador Abdoulaziz Kamilov
Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
1746 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20036-1903
Fax: 1 202 293 6804
Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado
office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time,
weekdays only, if sending appeals after July 16, 2004.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots
movement that promotes and defends human
rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept
intact, including contact information and stop
action date (if applicable). Thank you for your
help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: [email protected]
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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