URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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12 December 2005
UA 169/05 (Originally issued 20 June 2005 Imminent
execution/torture and ill-treatment/impunity
UZBEKISTAN: Yuldash Kasymov (m), aged 19
Alisher Khatamov (m), aged 27
Ismatillo Abasov (m), aged 46
Yuldash Kasymov's death sentence was commuted to 20
years' imprisonment by the Supreme Court on 22
November. However, Alisher Khatamov and Ismatillo
Abasov are still on death row and at risk of execution.
Appeals from the UA network could save their lives.
Shortly after the Supreme Court's decision, guards led
Yuldash Kasymov out of his death row cell in Tashkent
prison. ''They read out the Court's ruling to him. Yuldash
Kasymov was in a state of shock; he could not believe
what they were telling him. He thought they were joking
and he was about to be executed,'' told Tamara
Chikunova, director of the human rights group Mothers
against the Death Penalty and Torture, Amnesty
International on 12 December. ''When his brother Mansur
visited him shortly afterwards Yuldash was overjoyed and
was making plans for his future,'' she added. ''He said he
wanted to finish his studies in the medical institute.'' At the
end of November Yuldash Kasymov was moved to the
prison in Andizhan.
Yuldash Kasymov had been sentenced to death by
Tashkent City Court on 3 March 2005, convicted of killing
his parents. There were reports that he and his brother
were ill-treated during the interrogations in order to force
either one of the brothers to plead guilty. 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''. As a
result of the pressure, Yuldash signed the confession
statement.
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 the court apparently ignored
them.
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.'' He was
allegedly ill-treated in police custody.
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 their treatment violated the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR). 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 authorities of Uzbekistan 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
President Islam Karimov decreed on 1 August 2005 that
the death penalty would be abolished in January 2008.
Amnesty International welcomed the move, but urged the
authorities to commute all outstanding death sentences
and introduce a moratorium on the death penalty as a
matter of urgency. Unless fundamental changes are
introduced promptly scores of people are likely to be
sentenced to death and executed before January 2008 in
unfair trials.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to
arrive as quickly as possible:
- welcoming the Supreme Court's decision to commute
Yuldash Kasymov's death sentence;
- urging the authorities to abide by the UN Human Rights
Committee's requests to stay the executions of Ismatillo
Abasov and Alisher Khatamov while it is considering their
cases, and thereby honour Uzbekistan's obligation as a
party to the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR;
- urging the President to commute the two men's death
sentences passed on Ismatillo Abasov and Alisher
Khatamov, and all other death sentences that come before
him;
- welcoming the August 2005 presidential decree
stipulating the abolition of the death penalty from January
2008, and urging the authorities to institute a moratorium
on death sentences and executions as a matter of
urgency.
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: presidents_off...@press-service.uz
Salutation: Dear President Karimov
COPIES TO:
Head of the National Centre for Human Rights:
Akmal Saidov
Natsionalny tsentr po pravam cheloveka
5/3, Mustakillik Maidoni
g. Tashkent
Respublika Uzbekistan. 700029
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 139 13 56; 011 998 71 139 45 16
E-mail: off...@nchr.uz
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 January 23, 2006.
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: u...@aiusa.org
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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