EXTERNAL (for general distribution)AI Index: EUR 55/01/92

Distr: UA/SC

EXTRA 33/92Fear of Imminent Execution25 March 1992

AZERBAYDZHANI REPUBLIC:Grachik PETROSYAN

Gagik ARUTYUNYAN

Arno MKRTCHYAN

Arvid MANGASARYAN

Garnik ARUSTAMYAM

(in cyrillic Гарник ПЕТРОСЯН

Гагик АРУТЮНЯН

Арно МКРТЧЯН

Арвид МАНГАСАРЯН

Гарник АРУСТАМЯН)

Amnesty International fears that Grachik Petrosyan, Gagik Arutyunyan, Arno Mkrtchyan, Arvid Mangasaryan and Garnik Arustamyan may face imminent execution after being sentenced to death in the Azerbaydzhani Republic. All five are ethnic Armenians convicted of murdering an Azerbaydzhani journalist in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991. They were tried last week, exact date not known, by the Azerbaydzhani Supreme Court. A sixth man was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.

The Azerbaydzhani Supreme Court is the court of highest instance in the republic, and death sentences passed at this level need not be confirmed by any other authority before being carried out. The five men may not appeal, and although they may lodge a petition for clemency with the acting President, carrying out of the sentence is not automatically suspended while such petitions are under consideration.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases and without reservation, on the grounds that it is a violation of the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International is appealing to the Acting President of the Azerbaydzhani Republic to commute the death sentences passed on these five men.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/express and airmail letters:

- urging that the death sentences passed on Grachik Petrosyan, Gagik Arutyunyan, Arno Mkrtchyan, Arvid Mangasaryan and Garnik Arustamyan be commuted;

- urging that all other pending death sentences be commuted;

- urging that everyone sentenced to death in Azerbaydzhani Republic be granted the opportunity to appeal to a court of higher jurisdiction, in accordance with internationally agreed human rights standards;

- pointing out that Amnesty International takes no position on territorial disputes, and in these cases is concerned solely with the issue of the death penalty.

Page 2 of EXTRA 33/92

APPEALS TO:

1) Acting President of the Azerbaydzhani Republic -

Yakub Dzhavad ogly Mamedov:

Azerbaydzhanskaya RespublikaDear Acting President

370066 g. Baku

ul. Kommunisticheskaya 19

I.O. Prezidenta Mamedovu Ya.

Telegrams: Azerbaydzhan, 370066 Baku, I.O. Prezidenta Mamedovu Ya.D.

2) Head of the Presidential Department of Citizenship and Clemency questions - T. Aslanov:

Azerbaydzhanskaya RespublikaDear T. Aslanov

370066 g. Baku

ul. Kommunisticheskaya, 19

Otdel po voprosam grazhdanstva i pomilovaniya

pri apparate prezidenta Azerbaydzhanskoy Respubliki

Zaveduyushchemu otdela Aslanovu T.

Telegrams: Azerbaydzhan, 370066 Baku, Otdel po pomilovaniya pri prezidente, Aslanovu T.

COPIES TO:

1) Procurator General of the Azerbaydzhani Republic - Murat Babayev:

Azerbaydzhanskaya Respublika

g. Baku

Prokuratura Azerbaydzhanskoy Respubliki

Generalnomu prokuroru Babayevu M.

2) Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Azerbaydzhani Republic - Ibragim Isa ogly Ismailov:

Azerbaydzhanskaya Respublika

g. Baku

Verkhovny sud Azerbaydzhanskoy Respubliki

Predsedatelyu Ismailovu I.I.

3)Minister of Justice of the Azerbaydzhani Republic - Alisaad Saftar ogly Orudzhev:

Azerbaydzhanskaya Respublika

370601 g. Baku

pr. Kirova, 13

Ministerstvo yustitsii Azerbaydzhanskoy Respubliki

Ministru Orudzhevu A.S.

4) Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Azerbaydzhani Republic - Guseynaga Sadykhov:

Azerbaydzhanskaya Respublika

g. Baku

Ministerstvo inostrannykh del Azerbaydzhanskoy Respubliki

Ministru Sadykhovu G.

and to diplomatic representatives of the Azerbaydzhani Republic in your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 6 May 1992.