Amnesty International News & Updates Feed

Abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe continues under unity government

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:04:59 +0000

Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Zimbabwe's President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai to fulfil their promise to reform state institutions, in a bid to end human rights violations that have continued in the country since the formation of the unity government one year ago.

Torture, harassment and politically motivated prosecutions of human rights defenders and perceived opponents have persisted, while villagers in parts of Zimbabwe have suffered ceaseless intimidation by supporters of former ruling party ZANU-PF.

"The Attorney General's office, police and army have been left to freely violate human rights in pursuit of a political agenda," said Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty International's Africa programme.

"By delaying reform, the situation in Zimbabwe remains fragile as perpetrators continue to escape justice and are instead effectively given the all clear to continue violating human rights."

Amnesty International called on the unity government to end on-going harassment of human rights defenders. Several peaceful protests organized by civic movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were violently broken up by police in 2009.

Seventeen human rights and political activists who were abducted by state security agents in 2008 continue to face charges that are widely believed to be trumped up. One of them, Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, had her prosecution permanently stayed by the Supreme Court in September 2009 because of overwhelming evidence that she had been tortured.

"The government must end the incessant harassment of human rights activists and take steps to seriously protect rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly," said Erwin van der Borght.

The Zimbabwean army and intelligence services, as well as the Attorney General's office, have remained under ZANU-PF control, following an agreement brokered by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in 2008. The police are co-chaired by ZANU-PF and MDC-T ministers.

"The onus is on President Mugabe and ZANU-PF to ensure that key institutions under their control are reformed to end the culture of impunity that still threatens stability in the country," said Erwin van der Borght.

Amnesty International's call for reform comes amid reports that villagers in parts of Zimbabwe are being threatened with violence by army backed supporters of ZANU-PF, in an attempt to force them to endorse the heavily criticized Kariba draft constitution.

The Kariba draft constitution, agreed by unity government parties in September 2007, has been strongly criticized by some civil society organizations as an attempt by the parties to impose a constitution without consultation.

Villagers in Mutoko, Muzarabani and MT Darwin are reportedly being warned that they will face beatings unless they support the ZANU-PF position. Similar threats were made and materialized in the run-up to the June 2008 presidential elections.

"These are early warning signs that the situation could deteriorate if no urgent measures are taken to stop state security agents from carrying out violent political campaigns," said Erwin van der Borght.

"Past involvement on their part has resulted in gross human rights violations, including deaths and torture of perceived opponents."

The government has so far failed to investigate gross human rights violations allegedly carried out by security forces during the run-up to the second round of the 2008 presidential elections, which left at least 200 people dead, over 9,000 injured and tens of thousands displaced.

"The unity government must investigate past and present allegations of human rights violations by state security agents, including torture and ill treatment of detainees," said Erwin van der Borght.

Gross human rights violations have also been taking place within the army.

At least two soldiers were tortured to death in October 2009 while being interrogated by intelligence and military police officials in Harare. Another soldier was reported to have committed suicide while in solitary confinement and several others are still receiving medical treatment for injuries caused by torture.

The victims had been arrested along with at least 95 others, on suspicion of breaking into an armoury at Pomona barracks and stealing 21 guns.

"Zimbabwean state bodies are riddled with human rights abusers that in many cases carry out violations with impunity," said Erwin van der Borght.

"Without genuine reform of institutions this abuse is very likely to persist."

Indian government must stop refinery expansion until human rights are addressed

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:27:11 +0000

Indian authorities have given local communities scant or misleading information about the potential impact of a proposed alumina refinery expansion and mining project to be operated by subsidiaries of UK-based company Vedanta Resources in Orissa, Amnesty International said in a new report published on Tuesday.

The Amnesty International report, Don’t Mine Us out of Existence: Bauxite Mine and Refinery Devastate Lives in India documents how an alumina refinery operated by a subsidiary of UK-based FTSE 100 company Vedanta Resources in Orissa, is causing air and water pollution that threatens the health of local people and their access to water.

“People are living in the shadow of a massive refinery, breathing polluted air and afraid to drink from and bathe in a river that is one of the main sources of water in the region,” said Ramesh Gopalakrishnan, Amnesty International’s researcher on South Asia. “It is shocking how those who are most affected by the project have been provided with the least information.”

Adivasi (Indigenous), Dalit, women and other marginalised communities in the remote part of Orissa where the refinery is located have described to Amnesty International how authorities told them that the refinery would transform the area into a Mumbai or Dubai.

The Orissa State Pollution Control Board has documented air and water pollution from Vedanta Aluminium’s refinery in Lanjigarh, Orissa. Amnesty International found that the pollution threatens the health of local people and their access to clean water yet there has been no health monitoring.

“We used to bathe in the river but now I am scared of taking my children there. Both my sons have had rashes and blisters,” a local woman told Amnesty International. The organization recorded many similar accounts from people living around the refinery.

Despite these concerns and the environmentally sensitive location of the refinery near a river and villages, the government is considering a proposal for a six-fold expansion of the refinery. Neither the Indian authorities nor Vedanta have shared information on the extent of pollution and its possible effects with local communities.

The Orissa Mining Corporation and another Vedanta Resources subsidiary also plan to mine bauxite in the nearby Niyamgiri Hills. The proposed mine threatens the very existence of the Dongria Kondh, an 8,000 strong protected indigenous community that has lived on the Niyamgiri hills for centuries. The hills are considered sacred by the Dongria Kondh and are essential for their economic, physical and cultural survival, yet no process to seek the community’s informed consent has been established.

A Dongria Kondh man told Amnesty International, “We have seen what happens to other Adivasis when they are forced to leave their traditional lands, they lose everything.”

“The people of Orissa are among the poorest in India and their health is being threatened by pollution from the refinery. Their voices are being ignored by Vedanta Resources and its partner companies as well as by Orissa’s government. There has been inadequate consultation with local people about the changes on the ground and yet it’s their lives and futures which hang in the balance,” said Ramesh Gopalakrishnan.

Amnesty International is calling on the Government of India and Vedanta Resources to ensure that there is no expansion of the refinery and mining does not go ahead until existing problems are resolved. Amnesty International is also calling for full consultation with local people and for the Indian authorities to set up a process to seek the free, prior and informed consent of the Dongria Kondh.

READ MORE
This land is ours: Mine puts indigenous community at risk in India (Campaign Digest, 29 July 2009)
This is my home: Refinery disrupts lives in India
India: Don’t take my home away: A healthy environment is a human right
India: Don’t mine us out of existence: A healthy environment is a human right

Afghanistan must not grant impunity to war criminals

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:56:20 +0000

Amnesty International has called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan Parliament to immediately suspend controversial legislation that will give immunity from prosecution for serious violations of human rights, including war crimes and crimes against humanity committed, in the past 30 years.

The legislation, the "National Stability and Reconciliation" bill, was passed by both houses of the Afghan Parliament in early 2007 and published in the official Gazette in November 2008 but, unusually, it was not publicly divulged until January 2010.

Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, including the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), believe that this law is an attempt to provide legal cover for ongoing impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations, including the Taleban.

"The backers of this 'Impunity Bill' should note that they cannot simply legislate away the history of gross human rights violations and war crimes committed in Afghanistan over the past three decades. Nor can they silence the consistent demands of the Afghan people for justice and accountability," said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific programme.

"There are real doubts about the legal validity of this 'Impunity Bill', as no national legislation can immunize perpetrators of international crimes. Furthermore, President Karzai never signed this bill, and it was only divulged to the public almost two years after Parliament voted on it."

Under this legislation, people who committed serious human rights violations and violations of the laws of war, including massacres, widespread enforced disappearances, and systematic use of torture, rape, public executions and other forms of ill-treatment would be immune to criminal prosecution if they pledge cooperation with the Afghan government.

"The record of the past eight years has been crystal clear: attempts to accommodate human rights abusers have only led to a deterioration of security and an erosion of the government's legitimacy. Many of the people facing accusations of human rights abuses in the past are now in prominent government posts, facing new charges of engaging in human rights violations," Sam Zarifi said.

Under the provisions of this legislation, Taleban figures who agree to cooperate with the Afghan government would also be immune to prosecution. The Afghan government and its international supporters identified reconciliation with the Taleban as a priority during the London conference in January 2010.

"Short term expediency in the form of reconciliation with the Taleban should not trump the rights of the Afghan people, and in particular Afghan women and girls, who have suffered greatly under the Taleban’s repressive strictures. The Taleban have had a record of terrible human rights abuses, both when they ruled Afghanistan, and now in the areas they control. They should be held to account for their actions, not be granted official impunity," Sam Zarifi said.

"The Afghan people have time and again signalled that they want a government that protects and provides their human rights and that imposes the rule of law. This legislation is simply an effort to pervert the course of justice under the faulty guise of providing security."

Arrest of Sri Lankan opposition leader escalates post-election repression

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:59:38 +0000

The arrest of retired General Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka's former Chief of Army Staff and opposition political candidate in Sri Lanka's recently held presidential election, escalates post-election repression, Amnesty International said on Monday.

Sarath Fonseka was arrested late Monday evening and will reportedly face a military Court Martial on charges that he revealed military secrets and plotted the assassination of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"Sarath Fonseka's arrest continues the Rajapaksa government's post-election crackdown on political opposition," said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific programme.

"After the military defeat of the LTTE and a major election victory, President Rajapaksa should steer the country toward a better human rights record. Instead, we're seeing less and less tolerance for criticism."

The timing of the arrest is troubling given reports that Sarath Fonseka had announced earlier in the day that he was prepared to testify before an international court on war crimes charges against the Sri Lanka government.

Since his defeat in the election, several of Sarath Fonseka's key supporters have been arrested. Journalists with the state media suspected of supporting the opposition candidate have also faced threats and violence.

Allegations and counter allegations of responsibility for violations of human rights and humanitarian law featured prominently in the run-up to the election.

Sarath Fonseka was quoted in the press in December accusing the President's brother, Sri Lanka's Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of ordering the executions of surrendering LTTE leaders at the end of the war in May 2009. He later retracted his accusations.

"Allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka should be subject to an independent international investigation," said Sam Zarifi.

"Sarath Fonseka was commander of the armed forces during a period when Sri Lanka's army was accused of violating humanitarian law, including firing heavy weaponry into an area packed with civilians. Fonseka faces credible allegations of war crimes and should also be subject to investigation and accountability."

China urged to free human rights activist jailed after unfair trial

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:54:24 +0000

Amnesty International called on the Chinese authorities to release human rights activist Tan Zuoren, who was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for "inciting subversion of state power."

Tan Zuoren was convicted for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party and the government through his articles and diaries posted on-line and on overseas websites concerning the authorities' handling of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 .

"His arrest, unfair trial and now the guilty verdict are further disturbing examples of how the Chinese authorities use vague and over broad laws to silence and punish dissenting voices,” said Roseann Rife, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director at Amnesty International.

"The Chinese authorities cannot continue to claim that they are dealing with human rights defenders according to the law when they violate so many of their own legal procedures in cases like this."

The verdict was announced this morning by the Chengdu City Intermediate People's Court in China.

Tan Zuoren's wife, Wang Qinghua, protested the conviction and told Amnesty International that "even one day of imprisonment is too much. He only exercised his freedom of expression and addressed corruption from his own conscience."

Tan Zuoren’s trial on 12 August was grossly unfair and disregarded China's criminal procedure law. His lawyers reported they were unable to call their witnesses to testify in court or show the video footage they prepared, and they were unable to present their defence.

One of the defense witnesses, internationally acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei, was beaten and illegally detained by individuals in uniform claiming to be police for hours until after the trial ended.

Two Hong Kong journalists were prevented from covering his trial when local police detained them in their hotel room under the guise of searching for drugs. Police barred supporters of Tan Zuoren from the courtroom, allowing only his wife and one of his daughters, from attending the trial. Court officials filled the rest of the seats. Journalists were again harassed today trying to cover the story at the court.

The Court also violated criminal procedure law by delaying the verdict for four months with no explanation to Tan Zuoren’s lawyers.

"By silencing human rights defenders the Chinese authorities are denying society an open and transparent debate and rejecting the concept of accountability. The calls for justice will only become louder as more human rights activists are sentenced," said Roseann Rife.

Ten years on – no justice for victims of Chechen killings

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:23:38 +0000

"Today when I walk through Grozny I do not see the rebuilt houses or shops, I still see the dead and the faces of those who killed them."
Elvira Dombaeva, survivor of the Novye Aldy killings

Ten years after the killing of scores of civilians in a suburb of the Chechen capital Grozny, the relatives of those murdered are still denied justice by the Russian authorities.

On the morning of 5 February 2000, at least 56 men and women were killed by Russian security forces in the settlement of Novye Aldy.

In February 2000, the armed conflict in Chechnya, which had started in October 1999, had already lessened in intensity. Many residents were beginning to emerge from their cellars and return to the streets when troops entered Novye.

The residents of Novye Aldy didn't bury their dead immediately, as they waited for the authorities to come and investigate the atrocity.

Throughout a decade, Russia has failed to hold anyone accountable, despite evidence connecting the crime to members of OMON, the Russian special police.

“When we were finally able to collect the bodies after two days, we could not close the eyes of the dead. It was winter and we had to pour warm water over their eyes to be able to close them," Elvira Dombaeva, a survivor of the killings, told Amnesty International.

In the months after the killings, Chechen human rights activists and prosecutors collected reliable information identifying the troops responsible for the crime. In 2006, the Russian government confirmed that a "special operation" was conducted in the village on 5 February 2000 by a unit of OMON and that more than 50 people had been killed in Novye Aldy on 5 February 2000.

Yet according to the information available to Amnesty International, the authorities have made no serious attempt to identify or punish those who participated in the killing. Meanwhile, prosecutors who have tried to investigate the case have faced obstruction.

“The case of Novye Aldy illustrates the ineffectiveness of the Russian judicial system as well as the lack of political will of the Russian authorities to conduct an investigation and to bring to justice those responsible for crimes against the civilian population in Chechnya,” said David Diaz-Jogeix, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director.

In July 2007, the European Court of Human Rights found violations of the right to life and the prohibiton of torture and other ill-treatment by Russia responsible for the death of 13 residents of Novye Aldy, whose relatives had filed a complaint with the Court after failing to obtain justice in Russia. Yet still, no one has been brought to justice.

Amnesty International has called on the Russian authorities to provide justice for the victims of the Novye Aldy killings. Only by identifying, arresting and prosecuting those responsible can the authorities demonstrate their respect for the right to life and respect for the law.

Ban Ki-moon 'misses opportunity' on Gaza accountability

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:47:32 +0000

The UN Secretary-General has "missed an opportunity" by failing to make an assessment of the credibility of Israeli and Palestinian investigations into violations during the conflict in Gaza and southern Israel just over a year ago, Amnesty International said on Friday.

"This is deeply disappointing and a missed opportunity to help secure accountability for the conflict’s hundreds of victims," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Ban Ki-moon indicated on Thursday that “no determination can be made” on whether either the Israelis or Palestinians are complying with a UN General Assembly resolution of November 2009 that urged both sides to carry out investigations “that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards”.

It requested the Secretary-General to report within three months on their implementation, “with a view to considering further action”. The resolution was based on the Goldstone Report, which accused both sides of war crimes.

The Secretary-General explained his lack of action by the fact that “processes initiated” by the Israeli and Palestinian authorities were “ongoing”.

However, Amnesty International believes that the information he had received was sufficient to show that steps being taken by both sides were clearly inadequate and that this message should have been conveyed to them in the report.

Amnesty International urges the UN Secretary-General to remedy the situation by immediately preparing an independent assessment of the steps being taken by Israel and the Palestinian side to address accountability and requesting input from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other independent experts in international humanitarian and human rights law. Amnesty International wrote to Ban Ki-moon on 20 November 2009 with a similar recommendation.

Such an assessment should be made available to the General Assembly and the Security Council in the coming months and provide a solid basis for decisions on further action that are necessary to secure accountability for both sides. This may include an eventual referral of the situation in Gaza by the UN Security Council to the International Criminal Court.

Amnesty International’s assessment is that the responses presented to the UN Secretary-General by Israel and Palestinian representatives demonstrate that neither side has taken the necessary steps to conduct investigations “that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards”.

The organization has described the response of the Israeli authorities as “totally inadequate”, since investigations undertaken by them to date have failed to meet “international standards of independence, impartiality, transparency, promptness and effectiveness”.

The official Palestinian response to Ban Ki-moon was submitted by the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the UN and conveyed a letter from Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

The letter indicates that an investigative commission has recently been established but that investigations have yet to be carried out into specific allegations of violations of international law committed during the conflict.

Documents made public this week by the Ministry of Justice of the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza, by way of a response to the General Assembly’s call for investigations, provide no evidence of investigations which comply with international standards and focus on either denying the allegations of abuses committed by Palestinian armed groups or providing justifications for those violations.

Women's lives at risk because of Nicaragua's abortion ban

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:16:15 +0000

Activist Ana María Pizarro, tells Amnesty International how pregnant women are at risk of losing their lives because of Nicaragua's abortion ban.

"Many young women say 'I can't risk getting pregnant in this country'"

There can't be a law in Nicaragua which criminalizes something which only happens in women's bodies, because from that moment we are no longer equal before the law.

Women in Nicaragua are afraid to have a family, to get pregnant. Many young women say 'I can't risk getting pregnant in this country because I'm frightened that a (medical) complication could lead to my losing my life'.

I worked in the public health service for 10 years. Before, there used to be an analysis committee for the interruption of pregnancies, in the public hospitals. Now in the public hospitals, out of fear, women are left to die. There are cases of (pregnant) women who have treatable illnesses which aren't treated.

Women who have money can pay for a [clandestine] abortion and poor women have to carry on using basic, dangerous methods because they aren’t allowed to have an abortion in safe conditions.

We're creating a problem of social justice because in both of these cases, women can be sent to prison. The difference is that the poor women are going to die, and the women who aren’t poor won’t run any risk because they will be able to find professionals who can carry out an abortion safely.

One of the cases I know happened in Condega, in one of the provinces of Nicaragua.

A young woman of 25 arrived at a health centre one Sunday at 5am, where they diagnosed that she had had an induced abortion. In the space of two hours, the nurse and the doctor from the health centre informed the police and at 7am the police were inside the health centre interrogating the young woman.

The doctor, while a sample was being taken from the young woman's womb, filmed and took photos of the young woman, who was naked at the time. Then the police took photos of the young woman while the procedure was being carried out – again, while she was naked.

On the Monday the young woman was transferred to hospital and reported to the public prosecutor's office. The public prosecutor's office sent the case to the forensic doctor, who carried out a forensic assessment of her and on the Tuesday the young woman was being accused in court. She was interrogated while she was on a drip and under treatment.

The doctor said that the young woman didn't need a lawyer, they compelled her to testify and to incriminate herself. They obliged her to give information about details like how the abortion had been carried out.

Without a trial they ordered her to six months under house arrest, which is what the law stipulates. Since they had obliged her to give evidence against herself, a trial wasn’t necessary. She’s living out her sentence now.

The whole thing was carried out so quickly. This is not at all the case with rapists, with murderers, with those who abuse women, or when it’s an issue of corruption or violence, both of which affect Nicaragua so hugely.

Governments urged to condemn Nicaragua abortion ban

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:47:29 +0000

UN member states should urge Nicaragua to repeal its ban on abortion following a human rights' review of the country on 8 February, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

During the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review, UN members will have the opportunity to raise questions about the country's absolute ban on abortion.

Nicaragua's revised Penal Code, which came into effect in July 2008, stipulates prison sentences for girls and women who seek an abortion and for health professionals who provide health services associated with abortion. The prohibition includes cases where the life of the woman is at risk or when pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

"Nicaragua's ban on abortion is the result of a shocking and draconian law that is compelling rape and incest victims to carry pregnancies to term and causing a rise in maternal deaths," said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International. "UN member states should take this opportunity to hold Nicaragua to account for a law that violates women's right to life, health and dignity."

The organization also reiterated its call on the Nicaraguan authorities to decriminalize abortion in all circumstances. Amnesty International said Nicaragua should ensure that women and girls have access to safe and legal abortion services when an unwanted pregnancy is a result of rape or incest or when it threatens the woman's health or life.

The revised Penal Code introduces criminal sanctions for doctors and nurses who treat a pregnant woman for medical conditions such as cancer or cardiac emergencies where the treatment may cause injury to or death of the embryo or foetus.

Nicaragua's Penal Code is in conflict with the country's Obstetric Rules and Protocols issued by the Ministry of Health. The protocol mandates therapeutic abortions as clinical responses to specific cases.

Amnesty International's researchers have found that in Nicaragua the absolute ban on abortions particularly affects young girls who are victims of rape or incest.

According to a survey of media reports between 2005 and 2007; 1,247 girls were reported in newspapers to have been raped or to have been the victims of incest in Nicaragua. Of these crimes, 198 were reported to have resulted in pregnancy. The overwhelming majority of the girls made pregnant as a result of rape or incest (172 of the 198) were between 10 and 14 years old.

The organization also found an increase in maternal deaths since the introduction of the ban.

In the first 19 weeks of 2009, some 16 per cent of all maternal deaths were as a consequence of unsafe abortion compared to none in the same period in 2008.

Four UN expert committees established by treaties, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women have already condemned this law and urged its revision, but the Nicaraguan government continues to ignore these calls.

"Nicaragua's law criminalizing abortion goes against the advice of four UN treaty bodies and fails to meet its obligations under international human rights laws," said Widney Brown. "Nicaragua needs to repeal this law immediately and enact laws and policies that promote the rights of women and girls by ensuring their rights to health, life and to be free from violence, coercion and discrimination."

Nicaragua's ban on abortion is a cause of grave concern in the wider international community. Tens of thousands of Amnesty International activists appalled at the impact of the ban on women's and girl's human rights, have signed petitions and contacted the Nicaraguan authorities to call for the repeal of the law.

The Universal Periodic Review is an opportunity for the UN Human Rights Council to examine the human rights record of all member states. Each country is reviewed every four years with the aim of ensuring states are meeting all of their human rights obligations.

Ukraine releases Belarusian opposition activist

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:17:16 +0000

Amnesty International has welcomed the release of the Belarusian opposition activist and musician Igor Koktysh, who has been held in a pre-trial detention centre in Ukraine for two and a half years.

Igor Koktysh had been detained in Ukraine since June 2007 when Belarus requested his extradition over an accusation that he committed murder in Belarus in January 2001, an offence he had been acquitted of in 2002. He was released on Monday.

Amnesty International believes that he was charged by the Belarusian authorities because of his social and political activism. Before his release, the organization considered Igor Koktysh to be a prisoner of conscience.

Speaking from his home in Ukraine on Thursday, Igor Koktysh thanked Amnesty International "for the efforts you have taken". He said that he is still adjusting to his freedom and that his first concern is his health.

Igor Koktysh's release follows a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling in his favour on 10 December 2009. He had filed a complaint with the Court in October 2007.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office initially stated that he would be released only after the judgment of the ECtHR became final in March 2010, but he was released on 2 February.

In its judgement the ECtHR said that Igor Koktysh should not be extradited to Belarus, where he would have been at serious risk of torture or other ill-treatment and could have been given an unfair trial and sentenced to death.

The Court said that there was no legal basis to detain him obliging Ukraine to release him immediately and also stated that the conditions in which he was held in Ukraine amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Igor Koktysh is accused of "premeditated, aggravated murder" of a close friend's relative in January 2001, under Article 139 of the Criminal Code of Belarus, which carries the death penalty.

Igor Koktysh was held in detention in Belarus from January 2001 until his trial that December. While in custody he was allegedly tortured and ill-treated. This included being beaten and locked naked in a freezing cell, as well as being deprived of necessary medication for his asthma, in order to force him to confess.

Igor Koktysh told Amnesty International that during his detention in Belarus the head investigator of Brest district told him that he knew he was not guilty of the crime, but that he was under pressure from his superiors. The investigator refused to repeat these words in court.

Able to prove that he was in another city when the murder took place, he was acquitted and released. This verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Belarus on 1 February 2002.

After his release, Igor Koktysh moved to Ukraine where he registered to live and work and met his future wife. In April 2002, the Belarusian Prosecutor General appealed against his acquittal and the case was returned to the lower court for a retrial.

Igor Koktysh is currently pursuing his application for refugee status in Ukraine. Amnesty International said it will continue to monitor the progress of his asylum application and the payment of compensation ordered by the European Court of Human Rights.