UZBEKISTAN: Amnesty calls for moratorium on death sentence

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ANKARA, 1 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Amnesty International (AI) has called for a moratorium on all death penalty cases in Uzbekistan, following a presidential decree that the nation should abolish capital punishment in January 2008.

"Exactly a month ago, President Karimov decreed that the death penalty would be abolished in Uzbekistan from 1 January 2008. We welcome this announcement but if the authorities have already come to the conclusion that the death penalty is wrong and inhumane, then it is hard to understand why they are still prepared to execute scores of people before 2008," said Anna Sunder-Plassmann, Central Asia researcher for AI, speaking in London on Thursday.

Her comments coincide with the group's report entitled "Uzbekistan - Questions of Life and Death Cannot Wait Until 2008." According to the 19-page report, if no fundamental changes are introduced immediately, scores of people will be executed before the law is changed.

"The criminal justice system in Uzbekistan is seriously flawed and provides fertile ground for judicial error. In a country where torture is systematic and trials in death penalty and other cases are often unfair, a prompt moratorium on death sentences and executions should be introduced as a matter of urgency, until the death penalty will be fully abolished in 2008," Sunder-Plassmann explained.

She called on the authorities to 'lift the veil of secrecy' that surrounds the application of the death penalty in Central Asia's most populous state.

"Many family members have been searching for years to find the grave where their loved one was buried because the authorities have kept this information secret," she claimed.

While the authorities have never published comprehensive figures on the number of people currently on death row, Amnesty knows of 16 men who are currently awaiting execution.

"The figure is believed to be much higher because it is likely that many family members of death row prisoners do not have access to human rights activists, or independent journalists, who would record and pass on cases to us," Sunder-Plassmann said.

The AI request is especially timely given that trials are yet to be scheduled of an undisclosed number of people arrested following the government's brutal crackdown on civilian protestors in the southern city of Andijan. Rights activists estimate that as many as 1,000 people were killed by government forces in the incident.

"AI is particularly concerned about those people detained in connection with the Andijan events who have been charged with crimes carrying the death penalty in Uzbekistan. It is likely that the trials following the Andijan events will not meet international fair trial standards and in those circumstances, it would be particularly problematic if death sentences are handed down," Sunder-Plassmann asserted. "We know of dozens of alleged 'Islamists' who have been sentenced to death and executed after unfair trials in Uzbekistan."

She called on the government in Tashkent to move forward on the issue by giving guarantees that they will at least refrain from executing prisoners whose cases are under consideration by the UN Human Rights Committee.

"We know of 15 cases where people have been executed, although the committee had requested a stay of their execution and was considering allegations that they were sentenced to death in trials accompanied by serious human rights violations," she said.

The last time the authorities blatantly disregarded their obligations to adhere to such a request by the UN Human Rights Committee, was in March 2005. The authorities even told the committee the prisoner was still alive when, in fact, he had already been executed, she added.

Uzbekistan is the last Central Asian state to have capital punishment enshrined within the judicial system. Turkmenistan abolished the death penalty in 1999, while Tajikistan introduced a moratorium on death sentences and executions in 2004. Kazakhstan also introduced a moratorium on executions in 2003 while Kyrgyzstan had taken similar action as long ago as 1998.

[ENDS]