Avaz Gafurov may face imminent execution after having his appeal against his death sentence refused. His only hope of avoiding execution is a petition for clemency to the President. Avaz Gafurov was originally charged with manslaughter of his wife but cleared and released from custody in February 1993. However, he was rearrested in August 1993 after the investigator who had cleared him was charged with general malpractice. Avaz Gafurov was charged with premeditated murder and claims he was ill-treated to force him to confess and to implicate the investigator in alleged malpractice. His eldest daughter, the sole witness of her mother’s death, maintains that it was an accident and that her father is innocent.
