ODIHR Director calls on Kyrgyzstan to free human rights defender Azimjan Askarov

WARSAW, 22 April 2016 ─ Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), welcomed the UN Human Rights Committee’s decision yesterday on human rights defender Azimjan Askarov’s complaint,  calling on Kyrgyzstan to release Askarov and overturn his sentence.

“I call on the Kyrgyz authorities to release Mr. Askarov as recommended by the UN Human Rights Committee, in line with its OSCE commitments and obligations under international human rights law,” said Director Link. “Observers of his trials, including from ODIHR, have reported violations of fair-trial standards.”

On 21 April 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee urged Kyrgyzstan to immediately release Askarov, overturn his conviction and provide him with compensation for violations of his human rights, after finding he had been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment, and violations of his fair-trial rights.

“Kyrgyzstan now has an opportunity to correct this injustice, restoring both Mr. Askarov’s rights and its national human rights record in this regard,” Link said. “Freeing him will also send a strong signal to law enforcement and judicial actors in Kyrgyzstan that the rule of law must be upheld equally for all citizens.”

ODIHR monitored several hearings of Askarov’s trial, as well as its review before the Supreme Court in December 2011, and issued repeated statements of concern on the case. ODIHR representatives last visited him in detention in June 2015. Most recently, ODIHR requested to visit Askarov in November 2015, yet was not granted permission by the Kyrgyz authorities.