Russia: Five asylum-seekers at risk of extradition
Five ethnic Uzbek asylum-seekers are at risk of being extradited from Russia to Kyrgyzstan, where they would be at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Their defence teams believe the charges against them have no basis and are ethnically motivated.
UA: 271/13 Index: EUR 46/045/2013 Russia Date: 2 October 2013
URGENT ACTION
FIVE ASYLUM-SEEKERS AT RISK OF EXTRADITION
Five ethnic Uzbek asylum-seekers are at risk of being extradited from Russia to
Kyrgyzstan, where they would be at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Their
defence teams believe the charges against them have no basis and are ethnically
motivated.
Abdilaziz Hamrakulov, aged 19, Vohid Aliyev, aged 25, Murodil Tadzhibayev, aged 25, and Botir Turgunov,
aged 35, all from Osh region in southern Kyrgyzstan, fled to Russia in 2010 after four days of violent clashes
between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010. Nabid Abdullayev, aged 52, fled
to Russia in 2012. All five men are ethnic Uzbeks, and have been charged in Kyrgyzstan in connection with their
alleged participation in the June 2010 violence. The cases of Murodil Tadzhibayev and Abdilaziz Hamrakulov relate
to the same violent episode in Osh on 17 June 2010, while the cases of the others are separate. All five men are
currently held in pre-trial detention centres across the Russian Federation and all of them have applied for asylum
in Russia in 2013. The Russian Federation's Prosecutor General’s Office approved requests for the extradition of
Botir Turgunov on 24 July 2013, Abdilaziz Hamrakulov and Murodil Tadzhibayev on 13 August, and Nabid
Abdullayev and Vohid Aliyev on 16 and 17 September 2013 respectively. The men are appealing against the
decisions, which came while Botir Turgunov, Abdilaziz Hamrakulov, Vohid Aliyev and Nabid Abdullayev were
appealing against earlier decisions of the Russian migration authorities to deny them refugee status, and Murodil
Tadzhibayev was appealing against the decision to deny him temporary asylum.
On 9 September 2013, Moscow City Court turned down the appeal by Abdilaziz Hamrakulov's defence team
against his extradition order. The appeals lodged by the other four men against their extradition orders will be
considered in regional courts. In all five cases the defence teams have documented many inaccuracies in the
documents that the Kyrgyzstani authorities presented to the Russian authorities, and they believe that the charges
are fabricated and ethnically motivated.
The Kyrgyzstani authorities have given diplomatic assurances to the Russian authorities that the five men’s rights
will be respected. Amnesty International believes that diplomatic assurances do not provide a reliable safeguard
against human rights violations, and the men will be at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment and violation of
their right to a fair trial if returned to Kyrgyzstan.
Please write immediately in Russian, English or your own language:
Calling on the authorities to halt the extradition of Botir Turgunov, Abdilaziz Hamrakulov, Vohid Aliyev, Murodil
Tadzhibayev and Nabid Abdullayev to Kyrgyzstan;
Calling on them to honour and uphold the Russian Federation’s obligations under international law, and their
own Supreme Court's Decree Number 11 of 14 June 2012, not to forcibly return anyone to a country where they
would be at risk of serious human rights violations.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 NOVEMBER 2013 TO:
Prosecutor General
Yurii Ya. Chaika
Bolshaia Dmitrovka 15 A
125993 Moscow, Russian Federation
Fax: +7 495 692 17 25
Email: prgenproc@gov.ru
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Sergei Lavrov
Ul. Smolenskaya-Sennaia pl, 32/34
119200 Moscow, Russian Federation
Fax: +7 499 244 34 48
Email: 3dsng@mid.ru
Salutation: Dear Minister
Copies to:
Konstantin Romodanovskii
Head of the Federal Migration Service
Ul. Verhniaia Radishevskaia 4-1 kb 107
109240 Moscow Russian Federation
Fax: +7 495 623 66 60
Email: smev@fms-rf.ru
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
FIVE ASYLUM-SEEKERS AT RISK OF EXTRADITION
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In June 2010, four days of violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in the southern Kyrgyzstani cities of Osh and
Jalal-Abad left hundreds dead, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes. While serious crimes
were committed by members of both ethnic groups, the Kyrgyzstani authorities have failed to investigate these events
thoroughly and impartially, and ethnic Uzbeks have been targeted disproportionately for prosecution in connection with the June
2010 events. Relatives of ethnic Uzbek detainees are still reluctant to submit complaints to police and prosecutors about their
torture and other ill-treatment for fear of reprisals. Since mid-2011, lawyers defending ethnic Uzbeks accused of participation in
the June 2010 events have been threatened and physically attacked, even in the courtroom. Courts of all levels, including the
Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan, have routinely failed to exclude evidence obtained under torture. In May 2011, the International
Commission of Inquiry into the June 2010 violence found strong evidence that crimes against humanity had been committed
against ethnic Uzbeks in the city of Osh during the violence. This conclusion was rejected by the Kyrgyzstani authorities.
Three years after the violence, human rights monitors are reporting fewer arbitrary arrests in connection with these events, but
torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officers still appear routine. Torture and other ill-treatment are reported widely
used while individuals are being apprehended in the street, during their transfer to detention centres, while houses are searched,
during interrogation, and in pre-charge detention facilities. Police officers appear to have continued to target ethnic Uzbeks,
often allegedly threatening to charge them with serious crimes, such as murder, in relation to the June 2010 violence in order to
extort money from them.
Kyrgyzstan has issued dozens of extradition requests for its ethnic Uzbek citizens who have left the country and whom the
authorities accuse of having organized or participated in the June 2010 violence in Osh and Jalal-Abad. Most of these have fled
to Russia, while some have sought refuge in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. In 2011, Russia gave temporary asylum to many of those
ethnic Uzbeks who applied for it and whose extradition was requested by Kyrgyzstani authorities. The Russian authorities
declined extradition requests from Kyrgyzstan back then. However, in May 2012 the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office
accepted an extradition request for an ethnic Uzbek, Mamir Nematov, and only revoked this decision after the intervention of the
European Court of Human Rights which requested that he not be extradited.
On 16 October 2012, in the case Makhmudzhan Ergashev v. Russia, the European Court of Human Rights held that if the
applicant, an ethnic Uzbek of Kyrgyzstani nationality, were to be extradited to Kyrgyzstan there would be a violation of Article 3
of the European Convention of Human Rights (prohibition of torture or other ill-treatment, including sending people to places
where they would face a real risk of treatment in violation of this prohibition). This was the first time the Court had issued a
judgment on the risk of torture and other ill-treatment for ethnic Uzbeks threatened with return to Kyrgyzstan.
Name: Abdilaziz Hamrakulov, Vohid Aliyev, Murodil Tadzhibayev, Botir Turgunov, Nabid Abdullayev
Gender: m
UA: 271/13 Index: EUR 46/045/2013 Issue Date: 2 October 2013