Update, 26 July 2020

English PEN was deeply saddened by the death of award-winning journalist and human rights defender Azimjon Askarov. He had spent more than a decade in detention in Kyrgyzstan, in spite of multiple and mounting calls for his release. We send our condolences to his wife Khadicha Askarova and to his friends and loved ones around the world.

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Award-winning journalist and human rights defender Azimjon Askarov is continuing to serve life in prison in Kyrgyzstan in retaliation for his critical reporting. Arrested on 15 June 2010, Askarov has reportedly been subject to ill-treatment in prison and his health has deteriorated considerably over the ten years he has already spent in detention.  

On 1 May 2020, nearly a decade after his arrest, Azimjon was named one of the ‘10 ‘Most Urgent Cases of Threats To Press Freedom in the Age of Coronavirus’, amid mounting concerns for his health and well-being, and that of countless other political prisoners around the world. Less than two weeks later, on 13 May 2020, the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan nevertheless decided to uphold an earlier regional court ruling not to review his life sentence.  

PEN continues to call for his immediate and unconditional release: please join us. 

How you can help

Send messages of support 

Sunday 17 May 2020 was Azimjon Askarov’s 69^th birthday. To mark this occasion, please join us in sending him your wishes and messages of solidarity and support.

In a rare interview from prison, Askarov recently said:

What fool in prison would say he is happy? [Yet] I am actually happy, because people on five continents stand in solidarity with me and support me spiritually with their letters. Even though I am in prison, I feel the freedom of my soul. In prison I gained a new family that wholeheartedly supports me. Every letter is priceless to me […] In reading some of the letters, I could not keep tears of joy from my eyes. I give the letters to my children for safekeeping.

Emails can be sent to MessageForAskarov@protonmail.com and their contents will be delivered to him in detention. (This address will only be in function temporarily.)

Cards or letters can be sent to:

Azimjon Askarov
Ispravitelnoe Uchrezhdenie No. 19
s. Zhany-Zher
Sokulukskii Raion
Chuiskoi Oblast
Kyrgyzstan

PEN members are also encouraged to share this appeal and your messages on social media with the hashtag #FreeAskarov.

Spread the word 

PEN members are also encouraged to share this appeal and your messages on social media with the hashtag #FreeAskarov. 

Please feel free to use the graphic below to share on your social platforms.

Background

A member of Kyrgyzstan’s Uzbek minority, Azimjon Askarov spent his career exposing corruption. He was arrested on 15 June 2010 during the inter-ethnic conflict that swept Osh and Jalal-Abad provinces in southern Kyrgyzstan, during which hundreds of people were killed. On 15 September 2010, Azimjon Askarov was found guilty of instigating ethnic hatred, inciting disorder and being complicit in the murder of a police officer. 

An official investigation commissioned by the Kyrgyz government’s human rights ombudsman concluded that Azimjon Askarov was not at the scene prior to the police officer’s murder and, therefore, that he had played no role in the killing. In March 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee found that Azimjon Askarov had been arbitrarily detained, tortured, mistreated, and prevented from adequately preparing his defence as well as being denied treatment for serious medical conditions. 

On 12 July 2016, Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court ordered Azimjon Askarov’s retrial, only for the verdict to be upheld on 24 January 2017. His case was given a new hearing after changes to Kyrgyzstan’s Criminal Code came into force in January 2019. The Chui regional court in northern Kyrgyzstan once again upheld his life sentence on 30 July 2019, and on 13 May 2020, the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan decided to uphold the regional court decision. PEN condemns this decision and Askarov’s ongoing detention, and continues to call on Kyrgyzstan’s authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally. 

PEN’s support

The PEN Community has been actively campaigning on Azimjon Askarov’s behalf, notably highlighting his plight at PEN’s 80th International Congress in 2014 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, raising his case directly with both the President and General Prosecutor at the time, and citing his case in a submission to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. He has also been the focus of solidarity actions, most recently a call to PEN members and supporters to send him messages to mark his 69th birthday on 17 May 2020. 

Image credit: Alisher Siddiq – OTRS 2013013010014616, CC BY-SA 3.0