EXTERNAL (for general distribution)AI Index: EUR 55/02/92

Distr: UA/SC

27 March 1992

Further information on EXTRA 33/92 (EUR 55/01/92, 25 March 1992) - Fear of Imminent Execution

AZERBAYDZHANI REPUBLIC:Grachik PETROSYAN

Gagik ARUTYUNYAN

Arno MKRTCHYAN

Arvid MANGASARYAN

Garnik ARUSTAMYAM

names in cyrillic:Гарник ПЕТРОСЯН

Гагик АРУТЮНЯН

Арно МКРТЧЯН

Арвид МАНГАСАРЯН

Гарник АРУСТАМЯН

Amnesty International has now received further details from unofficial sources on the five men named above, who are under sentence of death in the Azerbaydzhani Republic. The trial took place on 19 March 1992 before the Supreme Court of Azerbaydzhan, and the accused were convicted of murdering Ms Salatin Askerova, an Azerbaydzhani correspondent of the newspaper "Youth of Azerbaydzhan". Other charges against them are said to have included "inciting ethnic hatred", "banditism" and "illegal possession of arms".

All five men come from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh: Arno Mikhaylovich Mkrtchyan, born in 1953 and a father of five, is a physics teacher from the village of Kirov; Arvid Ashotovich Mangasaryan, born in 1959, is postmaster of the village of Mets Shen; Gagik Mayorovich Arutyunyan, born in 1959, is a tractor driver from Ekhtsaog; Grachik Arminakovich Petrosyan, also from Ekhtsaog, is a teacher; and Garnik Gurgunovich Arustamyan, born in 1964, is from Khin Shen.

Amnesty International fears that these five men may face imminent execution, and is appealing to the Acting President of the Azerbaydzhani Republic to commute the death sentences passed on them.

FURTHER 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 the 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 FU 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 8 May 1992.