URGENT ACTION APPEAL----UZBEKISTAN
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20 June 2005
UA 169/05
Imminent execution/torture and ill-treatment/impunity
UZBEKISTAN
Yuldash KASYMOV (m), aged 19
Alisher KHATAMOV (m), aged 27
Ismatillo ABASOV (m), aged 46
The three men named above have exhausted their appeals
against their death sentences, and could be executed at any
time. Mass appeals now could save their lives. All three are
alleged to have been tortured or ill-treated in custody, and two
of them allegedly confessed under duress.
Yuldash Kasymov was sentenced to death by Tashkent City
Court on 3 March 2005, convicted of killing his parents. The
sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on 10 June.
"He was brutally beaten during the interrogations," according
to Tamara Chikunova from the Uzbekistan-based human
rights organization Mothers against the Death Penalty and
Torture. "His brother Mansur was also beaten. The purpose
was to force either one of the brothers to plead guilty. As a
result of the pressure, Yuldash signed the confession
statement. In court they showed a video of when the
investigators took Yuldash to the crime scene. In this video
you can see that his face is covered in bruises." Yuldash
Kasymov's girlfriend was reportedly beaten to punish her for
insisting that he was innocent, and he was told she would be
raped in front of him if he did not "confess".
The lawyer who was hired by the family was only able to get
access to Yuldash Kasymov after at least 10 days, when he
had already signed the statement. Yuldash Kasymov
immediately retracted his "confession" in a letter to the
relevant procurator and insisted he was innocent. Tamara
Chikunova told Amnesty International, "The police did not try
to find those who are responsible for the crime although, for
example, there were 23 fingerprints in the bedroom where the
parents were killed that do not belong to the Kasymov
brothers."
In a separate case, Alisher Khatamov was sentenced to death
by Tashkent Regional Court on 16 March 2005 for murdering
two people, and the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme
Court on 14 June. According to his father, "officers of
Bukinsky district police and the regional police of Tashkent
beat Alisher, our daughter, our younger son, my wife and me.
As a result, my face was covered in bruises, my ribs hurt and
when they beat Alisher at the police station I could hear his
cries of pain in the next room. Both Alisher and I were told
that my wife and daughter would be raped unless Alisher
'confessed' to having committed the crime." Reportedly,
Alisher Khatamov's lawyer only got access to him two weeks
after he was detained. The family complained about the
beatings during the trial, but their allegations are said to have
been ignored by the court.
Ismatillo Abasov was sentenced to death by Tashkent City
court on 31 January 2005 for "premeditated, aggravated
murder". According to his wife, he pleaded guilty to the
murder and "deeply regrets what he had done". There are
allegations that in custody he was ill-treated by police.
In April and May the UN Human Rights Committee lodged
separate requests with the Uzbek authorities on behalf of each
of the men, to stay their executions while it establishes
whether provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) were violated in their cases. As a
party to the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, the Uzbek
authorities are obliged to respect such requests, and have done
so in some cases. However, they have blatantly ignored them
in at least 15 cases. On 21 March 2005 the Uzbek authorities
gave a written assurance to the Committee that death row
prisoner Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev was still alive. It later
emerged that he had been executed on 1 March.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Scores of people are executed every year after unfair trials in
Uzbekistan. After his visit to the country in November and
December 2002, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture
concluded that "torture or similar ill-treatment is systematic"
in Uzbekistan. Following increased international pressure
with regard to the death penalty including an Amnesty
International campaign, President Islam Karimov said at a
press conference on 2 December 2004 that, in his "personal
opinion ... we should stop handing down death sentences."
However, he added that in his view the introduction of a
moratorium or the abolition of the death penalty would be
premature, and that a large majority of the population was in
favor of the death penalty.
Considering the particularly high risk of judicial error due to
the country's seriously flawed criminal justice system,
Amnesty International urges Uzbekistan to move towards full
abolition of the death penalty as a matter of urgency. The
organization believes that governments should lead public
opinion in matters of human rights and criminal policy. The
decision to abolish the death penalty has to be taken by
government and legislators. It can be taken even though the
majority of the public favor the death penalty, which indeed
has historically almost always been the case. Yet when the
death penalty is abolished there has often been little public
outcry, and it almost always remains abolished.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to
arrive as quickly as possible:
- urging the authorities to abide by the UN Human Rights
Committee's requests to stay the executions of Yuldash
Kasymov, Ismatillo Abasov and Alisher Khatamov while
their cases are being considered, and thereby honour
Uzbekistan's obligation as a party to the Optional Protocol to
the ICCPR;
- urging the President to commute the death sentences passed
on Yuldash Kasymov, Ismatillo Abasov and Alisher
Khatamov, and all other death sentences that come before
him;
- calling on the authorities to investigate thoroughly and
impartially allegations that Yuldash Kasymov, Ismatillo
Abasov and Alisher Khatamov were tortured or ill-treated
while in custody awaiting trial, and bring to justice anyone
found responsible;
- expressing your unconditional opposition to the death
penalty as a violation of the most fundamental of human
rights, the right to life, and calling on the authorities to move
towards full abolition of the death penatly as a matter of
urgency, and as a first step to introduce a moratorium on
death sentences and executions.
APPEALS TO:
President:
Islam A. KARIMOV
Rezidentsia prezidenta
ul. Uzbekistanskaia, 43
Tashkent 700163
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 139 15 17 (via Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Mark: "FAO President Karimov")
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear President Karimov
COPIES TO:
Head of the National Center for Human Rights:
Akmal Saidov
Natsionalny tsentr po pravam cheloveka, 5/3
Mustakillik Maidoni, g. Tashkent
Respublika Uzbekistan. 700029
Fax: 011 998 71 139 13 56; 011 998 71 139 45 16
E-mail: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear Senator Saidov
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 1 August 2005.
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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