[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 13



UZBEKISTAN:

Mothers seeking the ban finally get what they want. But some critics are
skeptical of the Uzbek governments motives.


Dmitry Chikunov received the death sentence for the murder of 2 men. At
the age of 28, he was executed in secret 8 months after his conviction.
During pre-trial investigation, he reportedly suffered gruesome torture
before he confessed.

For his mother, Tamara Chikunova, grief was compounded when authorities
refused to return her only son's body for burial. They did not tell her
where his remains were interned.

The 2000 execution became the catalyst for Chikunova to establish Mothers
Against the Death Penalty and Torture to help families with sons on death
row. Chikunova's organization faced harassment and intimidation by some
authorities as it also campaigned for an end to the death penalty in
Uzbekistan.

The efforts may have paid off. In August 2005, President Islam Karimov
first signaled by decree that he supported the ban. Then this summer, the
Uzbek Senate voted to end the death penalty starting in 2008, although the
measure would not prevent the government from carrying out pending
executions.

Chikunova said she does not hold a grudge against the Uzbek state because
"cruelty and rage are bad advisers." She praised Karimov for the
supporting the abolition of capital punishment, calling it an "impressive
political and civic step forward on the way to democracy and humane
society."

But while the measure represents an unusual victory for citizen action, it
has provoked mixed public and political reactions.

Chikunova expressed disappointment that the government did not place a
moratorium on executions following the president's August 2005 decree
calling for the ban. Other critics have complained that it is a political
ploy aimed at improving Uzbekistan's battered international human rights
reputation.

"The main reason for its adoption is a presidential election [scheduled
for December] before which Karimov wants to look in the best possible
way," said Tashkent-based political scientist Tashpulat Yuldashev. The ban
will not improve the situation in general, Yudashev added, because prison
conditions remain so poor.

Karimov came to power in 1989 as the first secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan. He was elected president
in 1990. In 2000, he was elected for what was supposed to be his final
5-year term, but a constitutional amendment in 2002 to allow for 7-year
presidential terms extended his presidency to 2007. It is not yet known
whether 69-year-old Karimov will run for another term or tap a successor
to run in the upcoming election.

SECRET SENTENCES

Characterizing the abolition of the death penalty as a "PR maneuver"
performed by the regime, Yuldashev maintained that "the other reason is an
effort to warm up to the West" through a demonstration of "less
repressiveness and more indulgence." But the country's image in the world
will hardly be improved, he added.

After the brutal suppression of a May 2005 uprising in the eastern town of
Andijan, where scores were killed by troops firing on demonstrators,
Uzbekistans relations with the United States and other Western countries
soured. But recent attempts have been made to build a dialogue between
Uzbekistan and the European Union, United States, and Japan.

Under current Uzbek law, capital punishment by means of shooting can be
applied in the cases of aggravated premeditated murder and terrorism.
Women, people under the age of 18 at the time of the crime, and men over
the age of 60 at the time of sentencing cannot be sentenced to death.

The government does not release official statistics on executions,
although Karimov publicly stated in 2001 that approximately 100 people
were executed annually. As in Dmitry Chikunovs case, most death sentences
are carried out in secret.

The government insists that no death sentences have been issued in the
country over the past 2 years. But a 2007 report by the human rights
organization Amnesty International cites several indications that death
sentences were handed down.

Moreover, a 2003 United Nations report on Uzbekistan's legal system cited
a lack of respect for the principle of presumption of innocence, a lack of
an independent judiciary, a lack of discretionary powers of the prosecutor
with respect to access to detainees by legal counsel and relatives, and
systematic use of torture. Human rights advocates argue that such
conditions mean that innocent people, including some awaiting execution
now, may be put to death for crimes they did not commit.

The death penalty has not provoked much public debate in the country of 28
million, where freedom of expression can bring reprisals and concerns
about the economy dominate political thought. The per-person gross
domestic product in Uzbekistan in 2006 was around 1449 euros, less than
1/4 of the GDP in neighboring Kazakhstan and less than one-sixth of that
in Russia.

Still, capital punishment and the legal process leading up to it are
concerns for many.

"Somebody from above gives a life, and we are not entitled to take it
away," a woman in Tashkent said. "The worst punishment is to be a social
outcast in prison to one's dying day."

"Let us suppose that you turned out to be not far from the place where
somebody was brutally killed near the time of the murder," she continued.
"Investigators found only your fingerprints, and you don't have an alibi.
What is to be done?"

(source: Transitions Online: Marina Kozlova is a journalist based in
Tashkent)






INDONESIA:

Militants face death penalty in Indonesia


4 Muslim militants could face the death penalty in Indonesia after being
charged with terrorism-related crimes by a South Jakarta court.

Prosecutors accuse Muhammad Basri, 29, of violating anti-terrorism laws by
being involved in a series of crimes against Christians in Central
Sulawesi between 2003 and his arrest in February this year.

Basri is accused of involvement in the beheadings of 3 high school girls
in Poso in 2005, the shooting death of a Christian reverend in July the
same year and taking part in several other acts of violence in Poso
district since 2003.

In separate trials at the same court, 3 other militants -- Ardin Djanatu
alias Rojak, 37, Ridwan alias Duan, 26, and Tugiran, 32 -- are also
accused of terrorism acts in Poso.

(source: Radio Australia News)