Return-Path: <320035641878-0001@t-online.de> Received: from (320035641878-0001@[62.157.0.43]) by fwd05.sul.t-online.de with smtp id 127kbg-26S3Vrx; Mon, 10 Jan 2000 20:36:00 +0100 From: 320035641878-0001@t-online.de (georg warning) To: m_johann@hotmail.com, nzz@co.ru, jdonker@worldonline.nl, 100103.13@compuserve.com, briheu@zedat.fu-berlin.de, lutz.rzehak@rz.hu-berlin.de, sota@euronet.nl, StErfen@aol.com, christian.schwarz-schilling@mdb.bundestag.dbp.de, erika.schuchardt@mdb.bundestag.dbp.de, ruprecht.polenz@mdb.bundestag.dbp.de, Wolf.Bauer@mdb.bundestag.dbp.de, zdwf-@t-online.de, administration@biost.de, doihh@uni-hamburg.de, pm@fornet.net.tr, Prof.Gasiecki@t-online.de, dreger@taz.de, cwik@zedat.fu-berlin.de Cc: ulrich@nevamedia.de, schlau@nsv.bishkek.su, gfbv@datacomm.ch, JB.Adelmann@gmx.de, a.morike@amnesty.it, vbanning@xs4all.nl, grigu@hotmail.com, asunderp@amnesty.org Subject: Tajikistan death penalty Uzbekistan elections Turkmenistan arrests X-Mailer: T-Online eMail 2.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 20:36:00 +0100 Message-ID: <127kbg-26S3Vrx@fwd05.sul.t-online.de> X-Sender: 320035641878-0001@t-dialin.net PUBLIC AI Index: EUR 60/01/00 UA 02/00 Death Penalty / Fear of imminent execution 4 January 2000 TAJIKISTAN Makhmud Nadzhmiddinov ( ) Abdumannon Kholmudminov ( ) Yurabek Ravshanov ( ) and others Amnesty International is concerned that a number of people sentenced to death in related cases, including the three men named above, may soon be executed. Makhmud Nadzhmiddinov, Abdumannon Kholmudminov and Yurabek Ravshanov were sentenced to death at the end of 1999 by Khatlon Regional Court for crimes which included terrorism, murder and smuggling of weapons. Reports indicate that Khatlon Regional Court sentenced one other person to death around the same time and that, on 28 December 1999, two others were sentenced to death in the Khudzhand region. On 29 December, two men were also reportedly sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Tajikistan, though this may have been upholding death sentences passed down earlier by a court of first instance. More detailed information on such cases, however, is extremely difficult to obtain. Verdicts on co-defendants are still pending. Amnesty International recently issued an action on behalf of Davlatali Husenov and J. Khojayev, who were also sentenced to death by the Khatlon Regional Court after they were convicted of organizing an illegal armed group and other crimes which included murder, robbery and rape (see Extra 180/99, EUR 60/02/99, 17 December 1999). According to reports, most of the men are followers of the opposition figure and former Popular Front commander and warlord Makhmud Khudoyberdiyev. They are apparently being tried for involvement in acts of political violence that took place in November 1998 in Qurghonteppa, the regional centre of the southern Khatlon Region, and in the northern Leninabad Region, with the intent of seizing power. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Criminal Code of the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan has 15 articles which carry a possible death sentence. In 1999, at least 15 death sentences were handed down and two people executed, although the real number may be much higher. News of these executions seems to confirm that a reported de facto moratorium on the death penalty is no longer in place in Tajikistan. More than five years of civil war in Tajikistan formally ended in late June 1997 with the signing in Moscow by President Imomali Rakhmonov and United Tajik Opposition (UTO) leader Sayed Abdullo Nuri of a General Agreement on Peace and National Accord. The fighting, however, continued after the peace accord. Makhmud Khudyberdiyev was one of the warlords involved in the struggle for power. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/E-mails/faxes/express/airmail letters in Russian or in your own language: - urging the President to use his constitutional authority to commute the death sentences passed down to Makhmud Nadzhmiddinov, Abdumannon Kholmudminov and Yurabek Ravshanov, as well as others that come before him; - urging that a moratorium be imposed on death sentences and executions pending a comprehensive review of the death penalty; - expressing sympathy for the victims of crime and their families, but pointing out that the death penalty has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments, and is brutalizing to all those involved in its application. APPEALS TO: President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Imamali Sharipovich RAKHMONOV Respublika Tajikistan, g. Dushanbe, Apparat Prezidenta Respubliki Prezidentu RAKHMONOVU I.Sh. Tajikistan Telegrams: Prezidentu Rakhmonovu, Dushanbe, Tajikistan E-mails: primer@pds.td.silk.org Salutation: Dear President Rakhmonov Procurator General of the Republic of Tajikistan, Salomiddin SHAROPOV Respublika Tajikistana, 734022 g. Dushanbe, prospekt A. Sino, 126, Prokuratura Respubliki Generalnomu prokuroru SHAROPOVU S. Tajikistan Telegrams: Generalnomu prokuroru, Dushanbe, Tajikistan Salutation: Dear Procurator General Chair of the Clemency Commission of the Tajikistan Supreme Council Respublika Tajikistana, 734051 g. Dushanbe, pr. Rudaki 42, Komissiya po voprosam pomilovaniya Verkhovnogo Soveta Predsedatelyu Tajikistan Telegrams: Predsedatelyu, Komissiya pomilovaniya, Dushanbe, Tajikistan Salutation: Dear Chairman COPIES TO: Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistan, Ubaydulo A. DAVLATOV Respublika Tajikistana, g. Dushanbe, Verkhovny Sud Respubliki Tajikistan Predsedatelyu DAVLATOVU U.A. Tajikistan Chairman of the Tajikistan Supreme Council Committee for Legislation and Human Rights, Abdumannon KHOLIKOV Respublika Tajikistana, 734051 g. Dushanbe, pr. Rudaki 42, Komitet po zakonodatelstvu i pravam cheloveka pri Majlis Oli Predsedatelyu KHOLIKOVU S. Tajikistan Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan, Talbak Nazarovich NAZAROV Respublika Tajikistana, 734051 g. Dushanbe, Rudaki 42, Ministerstvo inostrannykh del Ministru NAZAROVU T. Tajikistan Faxes: + 7 3772 23 29 64 / + 7 3772 21 02 59 Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to Russia, R.Z. MIRZOYEV Rossiya, 121069 g. Moskva, Skatertny per. 19, Posolstvo Respubliki Tajikistan, Poslu MIRZOYEVU R.Z. Rossiyskaya Federaciya Faxes: + 7 095 290 06 09 and to diplomatic representatives of Tajikistan accredited to your country. PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 15 February 2000. Folgender Text stammt von: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH HOME | SITEMAP | SEARCH | CONTACT | REPORTS | PRESS ARCHIVES HRW 1999 World Report: Uzbekistan chapter FREE Join the HRW Mailing List Uzbekistan Parliamentary Elections Backgrounder On December 5, Uzbekistan's voters will go to the polls for the second time since independence in 1991 to elect 250 deputies to the Olii Majlis, or parliament. Despite government claims that elections will be free and pluralistic, the parliamentary and local council elections will be a highly-controlled exercise in Potemkin democracy. With no opposition parties, no free media and a tight rein on independent candidates, voters do not have the ability to freely choose their representatives. Related Material Uzbekistan, Central Asia Focus Page International organizations have determined that pre-election conditions do not meet basic requirements for a free and fair poll. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, has recognized that "fundamental freedoms necessary for the emergence of a genuine opposition, as well as for a free and unhindered campaign" are lacking. The OSCE therefore announced on November 22 that it would send only a Limited Assessment Mission of 19 persons to Uzbekistan, instead of a full mission to observe the vote. The domestic Uzbek media have distorted this issue, however, repeatedly asserting that these representatives are "international election observers" who have come to confirm the democratic nature of the vote. Political Parties Uzbek officials have stressed that five registered political parties have nominated candidates for seats in parliament. None of the five, however, have voiced any disagreement with government policies, and President Karimov himself in June admitted that he couldn't tell the difference between them. There are no legal opposition parties in Uzbekistan. The government has refused to register the two opposition parties formed in Uzbekistan in the early 1990s, Birlik (Unity) and Erk (Freedom). In August, a court convicted several prominent members of the Erk party of anti-state crimes, ignoring the defendants' accusations that their confessions were coerced under torture. The President has repeatedly accused Erk's leader, Mohammad Solikh, in exile since 1994, of masterminding the February 1999 Tashkent bombings as an attempt on his life. Other current and former members of these parties are subject to frequent harassment and surveillance. Independent Candidates Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Chairman Najmiddin Komilov has touted the registration of 132 independent candidates as evidence of a pluralistic process. Evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch suggests that the registration and campaign efforts of these non-party unaffiliated candidates was in fact highly constrained. Several would-be candidates in Bukhara province reported being told by the provincial electoral commission that they could not stand for election in their home districts, even though the deadline for registration had not yet passed. Instead the commission proposed that they run in neighboring districts where they would have less of a chance both to gather the signatures necessary for registration and to win support from unfamiliar voters. State Interference in the Campaign Once registered, candidates face considerable obstacles in their campaigns. The Central Electoral Commission under Chairman Komilov seems determined to control even normal campaign activity-which he has denounced as "undermining the democratic basis of elections"-including campaigning at workplaces or in residential areas, meeting with heads of neighborhood organizations, and the like. Komilov further prohibited candidates from printing more than 5,000 copies of campaign materials and banned any campaign-related broadcasts on cable television. Independent candidate Shukhrarh Bafaev complained bitterly to Human Rights Watch of the intense controls placed on candidates by the CEC: "The whole campaign is carried out under the guidance of the election commissions. When I want to go meet potential voters, I first have to let them [the CEC] know. Then they can go and tell the people that I am coming." Bafaev alleged that CEC representatives went so far as to instruct the voter groups as to what questions they could pose in upcoming discussions with the candidate and what issues they would not be allowed to raise. A Human Rights Watch representative witnessed an example of this on-the-spot censorship during a campaign meeting in Bukhara, where the local election commission representative interrupted audience members' comments and advised citizens that certain areas of questioning were off-limits. Government-favored candidates enjoy access to state resources to advance their campaigns. Human Rights Watch representatives noted employees of the Tashkent municipal government canvassing apartment buildings four days before the vote to deliver leaflets in support of the executive of one of Tashkent's municipal districts. Media The government tightly controls the print media in Uzbekistan and subjects it to Soviet-style prepublication censorship. Criticism of government policies is strictly forbidden. According to Internews, an international NGO that supports the growth of independent media, state agencies refused to re-register two of the twenty-four privately-owned Uzbek television stations in November, although they had submitted their applications on time. Another privately-owned station was deprived of two-thirds of its broadcast hours, which were then re-allocated to the competing state-owned station. In contrast, two private stations owned or directed by persons occupying government posts were recently re-registered without any problem. Human Rights Watch is concerned that these closures, coming in the month before parliamentary elections are due to take place, narrow the already minuscule space available for sources of information other than official government media, and move Uzbekistan even further away from the freedom of information necessary for the democratic process. Election Monitors Uzbekistan's electoral law allows for citizens to be registered as vote monitors. Several NGOs across the country have successfully registered their members as monitors, but the government has obstructed many individuals who attempted to register as monitors. For Further Information: Cassandra Cavanaugh (212) 216-1271 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH HOME | SITEMAP | SEARCH | CONTACT | REPORTS | PRESS ARCHIVES Ak Welsapar schrieb: > Information from the Turkmenistan emigrants > > 2000-01-07 > > > On 5-th of January, the leader of the Democratic National > Movement "Agzybirlik" Nurberdy Nurmammedov in Turkmenistan was > arrested in Turkmenistan > > He was arrested at his home by the officers of KNB (Committee of > National Security) of Turkmenistan. > > While nothing is known about what he is charged of. However it > is possible, that the cause could be his lastinterview to the > RFE/RL, in which one he stated about illegality of a proclamation > of Turkmenbashi as the unlimited time president, that it > contradicts to the Turkmenistan Constitution. > > Before the Parliamentary elections in Medjlis (Assembly) on > December 12, 1999 Nurberdy Nurmammedov also has pronounced in a > broadcasting that "Agzybirlik" boycotts non-democratic, one-party > elections. > > Under the information of the emigrant Turkmenian opposition, > Nurmammedov is detained in the internal prison of KNB and trial, > has pronounced hunger-strike. > > Last days, there is also the information that authority, on the > instruction of Turkmenbashi, began to seizure the flats and > houses of oppositioners and dissidents. First of all, the forced > emigrants have suffered. On January 5 and 6, it was a fate of a > flat of the Turkmenistan writer Ewshan Annaqurban who is in > emigration in Norway and Khudaberdy Hally who works for Radio > "Azatlyk" (Turkmeni RFE/RL). >