Kyrgyz Judge Nurgazy Alimbayev pronounced Askarov guilty on a wide range of charges, including complicity to commit homicide and murder of a police officer (two separate counts related to the same incident), possession of ammunition and extremist literature, and attempted kidnapping, the independent regional news website Ferghana reported.

The Committee’s to Protect Journalists (CPJ) research shows that the charges are unfounded and that Askarov may have been targeted for revenge by Jalal-Abad law enforcement because of his documentation of human rights violations, including by local police, in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Askarov’s lawyer, Nurbek Toktakunov told CPJ he planned to appeal.

Reports of torture uninvestigated
Jalal-Abad police arrested Askarov in the village of Bazar-Korgon, where an officer was killed and several others wounded during ethnic clashes that engulfed southern Kyrgyzstan in mid-June. Prosecutors failed to prove Askarov was at the scene, Toktakunov said.

Reports of Askarov’s torture (Askarov with bruises on his back, picture on the left) in police custody and of intimidation of his lawyer have gone uninvestigated. Images showing bruises on Askarov’s back and face were published in the regional press after his arrest. The Dublin-based human rights group Front Line, whose representative attended Askarov’s trial, said that supporters of the prosecution openly threatened to kill Toktakunov during the proceedings, but the judge did not have them removed.

Property confiscated
Askarov has denied all the charges against him. In addition to the life term, the judge ordered Askarov’s property confiscated, the regional news website Voice of Freedom reported. Press freedom and human rights groups have called on Kyrgyz authorities to release Askarov. On 14 September CPJ urged Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva to ensure that he receives a fair trial.

In the other case, English PEN calls for the Kyrgyzstan-based Uzbek journalist Ulugbek Abdusalamov to be freed, pending a fair trial. He has been detained on charges relating to his writings since 14 June 2010.

Poor health condition
International human rights groups and free expression organisations report that he is being held in retaliation for reporting on human rights abuses in southern Kyrgyzstan. Abdusalamov is in extremely poor health and there are concerns that his continued imprisonment puts his life at risk.

Ulugbek Abdusalomov, chief editor of the independent newspaper Diydor, was arrested on 14 June following the inter-ethnic violence that occurred in Jalal-Abad during the months of May and June.

On the day of his arrest, his car was blocked by another car without licence plates and men wearing camouflage took him to the regional headquarters of the Kyrgyz Security Service. There, he was detained in connection with the May 12-15 protests by ethnic Uzbeks in Jalal-Abad, which had sparked violent retaliation from the ethnic Kyrgyz population.

In August, Abdusalomov was charged with organising and participating in mass disorder, promoting separatism, and incitement of ethnic hatred through an article published in Diydor. This article quoted reports from Uzbeks saying that they’d suffered ethnic discrimination living in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Teleportation?
According to his colleagues, Abdusalomov was actually in the capital, Bishkek, at the time of the protests, and was taking part in meetings of the government-sponsored Constitutional Council. An official transcript of the meeting confirms this.

Abdusalamov is seriously ill and is not receiving adequate medical assistance. In 2009 he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage. He also suffers from high blood pressure, stomach ailments and a heart condition. He requires constant medical care. He has been repeatedly transferred back and forth between the regional hospital and his pre-trial detention centre, where conditions are reported to be very poor.

The Bishkek PEN Centre in Kyrgyzstan has written to the Ombudsman KR, Public Authority for Human Rights in Kyrgyzstan, asking for an open and fair investigation of Abdusalomov’s case.

His trial date is yet to be announced.

English PEN recommends taking action

Please send appeals:

– Calling for the Kyrgyzstan-based Uzbek journalist, Ulugbek Abdusalamov, to be freed pending a fair trial.

– Calling for the immediate provision of adequate medical attention for Ulugbek Abdusalamov.

– Calling on the Kyrgyz government to allow journalists to carry out their work without fear of harassment or obstruction by the authorities.

Send to:

Minister of Internal Affairs
Kubatbek Baibolov
Frunze Street, 469
Bishkek 720040
Kyrgyzstan
Fax: 996 312 68 20 44
Email: pressa@mail.mvd.kg
Salutation: Dear Minister

General Prosecutor
Baitemir Ibraev
72, Orozbekova Street
Bishkek 720040
Kyrgyzstan
Fax: 996 312 66 54 11
Email: genproc@bishkek.gov.kg
Salutation: Dear General Prosecutor

President of the Kyrgyz Republic
Roza Otunbaeva
Dom Pravitelstva
Bishek 720003
Kyrgyzstan
Fax: 996 312 62 50 12
Salutation: Dear President

Contacts
For further details contact Sara Whyatt at International PEN: wipc@internationalpen.org.uk

HRH London, based on Committee to Protect Journalists and English PEN articles (see original here and here).

Related links:

NHC Monitoring in Kyrgyzstan concerned with ongoing human rights violations

Kyrgyzstan: two killed, about twenty wounded in special operation in Osh Province 

Satellite images reveal violence in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan: International support necessary to restore order, provide humanitarian aid and democracy