Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
49
Amnesty International September 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
On 27 June the KCHR office in Osh was sealed
by the Osh branch of the National Security Ministry
(MNS). Noomagan Arkabaev, the KCHR coordinator
for Osh region, was reportedly detained on 20 June
also by officers of the MNS. During the search of the
KCHR office MNS officers claimed to have
discovered leaflets which called for the overthrow of
the President of Kyrgyzstan. The KCHR alleged that
the real reason for the arrest of Noomagan Arkabaev
was the fact that he had prepared articles for
publication accusing the director of the MNS of Osh
region of corruption.
Political prisoner Felix Kulov
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
On 22 January Bishkek Military Court sentenced Felix
Kulov, the chairman of the opposition
Ar-Namys
party, to seven years’ imprisonment with confiscation
of property. The court also stripped him of his military
rank of lieutenant-general. He was arrested in the
court room and taken into the custody of the MNS.
On 27 January the European Union expressed its
grave concern at the circumstances surrounding the
retrial of Felix Kulov and stated that “unfortunately,
the handling of the case by the Kyrgyz authorities
nourished the suspicion that the case may be
politically motivated”. Supporters of Felix Kulov
claimed that the verdict had been political and that the
judge had acted on the orders of the executive
authorities.
In August 2000 Bishkek Military Court had
cleared Felix Kulov of reportedly fabricated and
politically-motivated charges of abuse of authority
while serving as a Minister of National Security in
1997 and 1998. He was released from the court room.
In September 2000, after the prosecution lodged a
protest against his acquittal, the Board of the Kyrgyz
Military Court ruled that the verdict should be
reconsidered, and ordered a re-trial in Bishkek
Military Court under a new presiding judge. His
supporters had alleged that his arrest and the criminal
case brought against him had been intended to
disqualify him from running in the October 2000
presidential elections.
Fear of forcible deportations of ethnic Uighurs
Uighurs are Turkic people who are predominantly
Muslim. They are the largest indigenous group living
in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR),
northwest China; a smaller number live in Central
Asia. The ethnic Uighur population in Central Asia
finds itself increasingly accused of sympathizing with,
and even supporting, the banned Islamic opposition
movements in Central Asia and therefore its members
often become targets of persecution, including
arbitrary arrest, forcible deportation and ill-treatment,
by the authorities.
China has been putting increasing political and
economic pressure on some Central Asian republics,
such as Kyrgyzstan, and has sought assurances from
them that they would help to arrest alleged “ethnic
separatists” (originally from XUAR who seek
independence from China) that live on their territory
and deport them back to China. AI was concerned that
if extradited to China, these ethnic Uighurs would be
at risk of torture and execution. In January 2001 China
and Kyrgyzstan signed an agreement of cooperation,
including on mutual extradition of “criminals hiding
on their territories”. According to unofficial sources
Kyrgyzstan has been actively cooperating with China
in tracing suspected ethnic Uighur separatists from
XUAR; Chinese Special Security officers are reported
to visit Bishkek, on a regular basis to detain ethnic
Uighurs.
Ethnic Uighurs Askar Tokhti, Bakhramzhan
Elimov, Ali Mansumu, Akhmet Gyunan, and ethnic
Karachai, Nazar Chotchayev, were detained after four
people died on 30 May and 1 June 1998 as a result of
explosions in Osh near the border of Kyrgyzstan and
Uzbekistan. The devices for the explosives had
allegedly been planted in the interior of a minibus.
Chinese citizens Askar Tokhti, Bakhramzhan
Elimov and Ali Mansumu, Turkish citizen Akhmet
Gyunan and citizen of the Russian Federation, Nazar
Chotchayev, were arrested on 25 August 1998 in the
city of Almaty in Kazakstan on charges of “illegal
possession of firearms”. Kyrgyzstan authorities
suspected the detained men of involvement in the Osh
bombings and demanded their extradition. In February
1999 they were sent to Kyrgyzstan.
On 3 May 2000 the men stood trial at Osh City
Court. The court sentenced them to long prison terms
ranging from 16 to 22 years. The five were accused of
“premeditated, aggravated murder”, "setting up a
criminal organization" and “terrorism”. The men
reportedly proclaimed their innocence and alleged that
they had been beaten by law enforcement officers
while in pre-trial detention in order to extract a
confession. On 3 August 2000, Osh Regional Court,
considering their appeal against their conviction,
annulled the verdict by the court of first instance for
lack of evidence. The criminal case was ordered to be
further investigated.
In January 2001 the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan
reportedly annulled the decisions of both courts and
ordered Osh Regional Court to review the case.
Following a retrial Osh Regional Court sentenced
Askar Tokhti, Bakhramzhan Elimov, Akhmet Gyunan
and Nazar Chotchayev to death on 12 March. Ali
Mansumu was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment.
In view of the moratorium on executions in place in
Kyrgyzstan the men are not in immediate danger of
being executed. However, there is a danger that China
might request the extradition of the Chinese nationals.
If extradited to China, they would be at risk of torture
and execution.
On 22 March their lawyer reportedly appealed
against the verdicts to the Supreme Court of
Kyrgyzstan. By the end of June the appeals were still
pending with the Supreme Court.
Supporters of the men claimed that they had been
targeted and prosecuted because of their ethnic origin,
and that they had nothing to do with the bombings in
Osh.