The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Kyrgyzstan.
According to the information received, on November 18, 2009, around 7:30 pm, Mr. Bakhrom Hamroev and Mr. Izzatilla Rakhmatillaev were arrested in Osh by representatives of the Kyrgyz State Service for National Security (SSNS). While Mr. Bakhrom Hamroev was having dinner with Mr. Shersod Yusupov, a journalist from Radio Liberty, two police officers asked Messrs. Hamroev and Yusupov to follow them, pretending that they had to control their identity papers. Mr. Yusupov was detained for half an hour in SSNS office and then released. He immediately informed Mr. Rakhmatillaev, who went to SSNS office to look for Mr. Hamroev and was also arrested. Meanwhile, his house was searched by three officers from SSNS.
In the morning of November 19, 2009, Mr. Rakhmatillaev asked for legal assistance, after which he was released, while Mr. Hamroev was deported to Moscow, after having been accused of illegal collection of information on the social and political situation in Kyrgyzstan and of "spreading information on Khisb out-Takhrir", an international Islamic organisation that is banned in several countries in the region. Documents about legal procedures and leaflets about Khisb out-Takhrir were allegedly found in his bag. However, Mr. Rakhmatillaev, who was with Mr. Hamroev in Almaty when they packed for Kyrgyzstan, can certify that the latter did not carry such papers.
Mr. Bakhrom Hamroev arrived in Kyrgyzstan on November 10, 2009 to conduct research into human rights violations by Kyrgyz Government forces in cases of alleged religious extremism and terrorism. From the beginning of their investigations, Messrs. Hamroev and Rakhmatillaev were followed by SSNS officers. On November 13, agents told Messrs. Hamroev and Rakhmatillaev to leave the Nookat district and prevented them from talking to family members of individuals accused by the Government of being extremists. On November 17, a hotel manager in the town of Jalal-Abad told Mr. Hamroev that he had received a verbal order from the SSNS officers not to allow Mr. Hamroev to stay in the hotel for another night and to tell him he should leave the town.
The Observatory strongly condemns the arbitrary arrest of Messrs. Hamroev and Rakhmatillaev as well as the deportation of Mr. Hamroev, which seems to stem from fabricated charges and to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities.
Moreover, the Observatory recalls that on February 26, 2009, Mr. Vitaly Ponomarev, Director of the Memorial Central Asia Programme, was also deported from Kyrgyzstan and declared persona non grata for having published a 24-page report about religious persecution and torture in Kyrgyzstan a month earlier. Earlier, on October 12, 2008, Mr. Ivar Dale, representative of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), who was in the process of opening a regional office for Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, was denied entry to the territory while returning from a trip in Europe. On September 5, 2008, Mr. Dale was tried by a local court in Bishkek for "illegal work in Kyrgyzstan", the NHC not having been officially registered there, despite the completion of all formalities, and for providing "false information" in a visa application in November 2007. He was then banned from the territory of Kyrgyzstan for 10 years by the security services, on the grounds that his presence on the territory of Kyrgyzstan was considered as "contrary to national interests"[1].
The Observatory further recalls that as a Participating State of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kyrgyzstan acknowledges that "the [...] UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders [... places] a responsibility [...] on States to adopt and implement adequate legislation and administrative procedures that would provide for a conducive environment for human rights defenders to promote and strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", and recognises "the need for particular attention, support and protection for human rights defenders by the OSCE, its Institutions and field operations, as well as by participating States"[2].
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities of Kyrgyzstan and ask them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Hamroev and Rakhmatillaev as well as of all human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan;
ii. Put an end to acts of harassment against the above-mentioned defenders as well as all human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
iii. Conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular its article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", and its article 12.2 which provides that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration";
iv. Comply with the provisions of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the 2nd Conference on the Human Dimension of the Cooperation and Security Conference in Europe (CSCE) (1990), and guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments ratified by Kyrgyzstan.
Addresses:
· Mr. Bakiev Kurmanbek Salievich, President of Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzskaya Respublika, 720003. Bishkek, Prospekt Chuy, 205, Fax: 996 312 218 627, Email: ghpress2@rhl.bishkek.su
· Mr. Igor Vasilevitch Tchudinov, Prime Minister, Fax: 996 312 218 627
· Mr. Bolotbek Nogoybaev, Minister of Internal Affairs, Fax: 996312663031, 996312288788
· Mr. Marat Kaipov, Minister of Justice, Fax: 996312663044 / 996312656502
· Mr. Elmurza Satybaldiev, Public Prosecutor of the Kyrgyz of Republic, Fax: 996312665411
· Permanent mission of Kyrgyzstan, Rue Maunoir 26, 1207 Geneva, Switzerland, Email: kyrgyzmission@bluewin.ch, Fax: +41 22 707.92.21
· Embassy of Kyrgyzstan in Brussels, 47 rue de l’Abbaye, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Tel: + 32 2 640 18 68 / + 32 2 640 38 83, Fax: + 32 2 640 01 31, Email: aitmatov@infonie.be
Please also write to diplomatic representations of Kyrgyzstan in your respective countries.
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