Rights campaigner Askarov case review must be impartial - Kyrgyz presidential administration
BISHKEK. July 11 (Interfax) - The Kyrgyz presidential administration is expecting a fair Supreme Court ruling on the appeal against the verdict for the human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov, who was sentenced to life in prison in the case over inter-ethnic clashes in 2010.
"I don't know what the court's outcome will be, because the decision is up to the court. Our court is independent and we have no way of influencing it," Sapar Isakov, deputy chief of the Kyrgyz presidential administration in charge of foreign policy, told Interfax.
"I think we must closely watch the process and will learn what the ruling is. Whatever the ruling, we must accept it," Isakov said.
"We think the whole world is watching this process," he said.
"I am very hopeful that our court and our judiciary system will demonstrate impartiality, fairness, so let's watch," Isakov said.
The Askarov case review has nothing to do with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's first visit to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on July 13-14.
The Askarov case review following his lawyers' appeal and on the basis of "newly-discovered circumstances" began at the Kyrgyz Supreme Court on Monday. The court has now adjourned until 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
On April 21, a United Nations committee of 18 independent international human rights experts called on Kyrgyzstan to release Askarov and drop all charges against him. According to the UN Human Rights Committee, Kyrgyzstan's treating of the activist violated several articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that Kyrgyzstan is party to.
On June 10-15, 2010, clashes occurred between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the city of Osh and nearby Jalal-Abad in southern Kyrgyzstan, which, by official estimates, led to over 440 people killed and around 2,000 sustaining various injuries. Some media reports put the death toll at over 2,000.
Askarov, who was one of activists of the Uzbek diaspora in Jalal-Abad, was convicted in the same year for inciting ethnic hatred, organizing mass disturbances, and abetting the murder of a law enforcement officer.
Kyrgyz and international rights campaigners repeatedly voiced their protest against this verdict by Kyrgyz courts of every level.
In July 2015, the United States Department of State presented Askarov with the Human Rights Defender award, which eventually led to the souring of the U.S.-Kyrgyz relationship and termination of an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation to facilitate the provision of assistance.
On his trips to Europe, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev was repeatedly asked about Askarov's fate, to which the president replied that he cannot interfere with courts and instead suggested that western countries should send a fact-finding team to Kyrgyzstan to investigate all circumstances in the human rights campaigner's case.
In particular, the activist's fate was brought up at Atambayev and Merkel's meeting in December 2012.