GENEVA, July 28 — The UN called today for an impartial probe into the death of a rights defender who was jailed for life in Kyrgyzstan and urged the early humanitarian release of vulnerable prisoners.
Azimjon Askarov, a 69-year-old human rights defender and member of the country’s ethnic Uzbek minority, died in a prison hospital on Saturday.
Kyrgyz authorities have listed the cause of his death as double pneumonia.
“There should be a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into his death,” Elizabeth Throssel, a spokeswoman with the UN rights office, told reporters.
“Under international human rights law, his family have the right to redress,” she said.
Askarov was jailed for life following ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan a decade ago.
His detention became a point of contention between the Central Asian country and the United States after Washington awarded him a rights prize in 2015.
Throssel said the UN rights office had urged Kyrgyz authorities in May to allow Askarov to leave prison since he had frail health and was among the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In recent weeks we received information that his health was deteriorating further but despite repeated calls, Askarov was not provided with urgent medical assistance required and was not released on humanitarian grounds,” she said.
She also reiterated the UN’s call for the Kyrgyz government to “consider an early humanitarian release of the most vulnerable prisoners” in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authorities there, she stressed, had “repeatedly and publicly expressed their commitment to international human rights norms and standards, which also include obligations to ensure the right to health and the right to life.”
“For people deprived of their liberty, the state has a heightened duty of care.”
Throssel said Askarov should not have been in prison in the first place.
The UN Human Rights Committee in 2016 ruled that Askarov “had been arbitrarily detained, held in inhumane conditions, tortured and mistreated, and prevented from adequately preparing his defence,” she said.
Askarov’s lawyer Valeryan Vahitov told AFP that his client had been “unable to walk” when he visited him last week, due to an illness.
“No one paid him any attention. The system killed him,” Vahitov said on Saturday, confirming Askarov had died.
“He cried. (Askarov) knew that he was dying and no one lifted a finger.” — AFP
