On 30 July 2019 Azimjan Askarov, prominent Kyrgyzstani human rights defender and director of the independent human rights organisation “Air” (Vozdukh), is scheduled to attend a court review of his life sentence following changes to the Kyrgyzstani Criminal Code that came into force in January 2019.
Azimjan Askarov was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2010 following a trial that did not meet international fair trial standards. The charges against Askarov, who is 68, were fabricated and politically motivated, and he alleges torture while in detention.