AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

TAJIKISTAN: APPEAL CASES

2 May 2002; AI Index: EUR 60/003/2002; public

Death sentence: Abdughani SARTIBAYEV

Abdughani Sartibayev was sentenced to death on 7 March 2002 by the Tajik Supreme Court in Dushanbe. He was convicted of murdering a Swiss traveller in the summer of 2001, allegedly with the aim of robbing him.

A second man, Khushvaqt Qosimov, received a twenty-year sentence of imprisonment in the same case, because - in the words of the Supreme Court's press spokesperson - "initial investigation" had shown Sartibayev was the one most to blame for the crime. They were convicted under Article 104 of the Tajik criminal code.

According to Tajik law, Mr Sartibayev can appeal against his sentence to the Supreme Court Plenum and, if that fails, petition the Tajik President for clemency. The President must decide whether or not to pardon him within four months. The new Code of Executing Sentences adopted in August 2001 entitles prisoners to a stay of execution while their clemency petitions are being considered. Previously there was no such guarantee.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Tajik law prescribes the death penalty for 15 offences, not all of them connected with violence, and "murder" is punishable by death in no fewer than sixteen aggravating circumstances under Article 104(2) of the criminal code. The death penalty is discretionary, which means that judges can choose to impose imprisonment instead.

Nevertheless, AI learned of no fewer than 74 death sentences passed in 2001 and 5 executions. Since the official death penalty statistics are not accessible to the public, it is probable that the true figures for both categories are higher. Only two death sentences were reported commuted over the same period. The population of Tajikistan is around 6 million.

Between June 1995 and November 1998 a de facto moratorium on death sentences and executions was in place in Tajikistan. Since August 2001 the Tajik press has published articles by a handful of human rights lawyers, calling for capital punishment to be restricted, citing known judicial mistakes in the past. In January 2002, however, the Chair of the Criminal Cases Collegium of the Supreme Court - Fakhriddin Dodomatov - said that current legal guarantees were adequate to prevent mistakes and that, in his view, the country was not ready for abolition.

Write to:

1. President Rakhmonov/ Respublika Tajikistan/ g.Dushanbe/ pr.Rudaki 80/ Prezidentu RAKHMONOVU I.Sh.

FAX: + 00. 992. 372. 21 25 20; +00. 992.372. 21 18 37

(Salutation: “Dear President Rakhmonov”)

2. Tajik Minister of Justice, Khalifabobo HOMIDOV

Respublika Tajikistan/ 734025 g.Dushanbe/ prospekt Rudaki 25, Ministerstvo Yustitsii Respubliki Tajikstan/ Ministru HOMIDOVU Kh..

TEL: +00.992. 372. 22 44 05

FAX:+00 992. 372. 21 80 66

(Salutation: “Dear Minister”)

3. Chair of Tajik Supreme Court Plenum, Ubaydulo DAVLATOV

Respublika Tajikistan/ 734018 Dushanbe/ ul N. Karabayeva 17/ Verkhovny Suda respubliki Tajikistan, Predsedatelyu DAVLATOVU U.A.

(Salutation: “Dear Chairman”)

4. Chair of Clemency Commission of the Supreme Council (Ms GulchekhreSHARIPOVA)

Respublika Tajikistan/ 734051 g.Dushanbe/ pr. Rudaki 42, Komissiya po voprosam pomilovaniya, Verkhovny Sovet Respublki Tajikistan, PREDSEDATELYU

(Salutation: “Dear Madame Chairman”)

5. Procurator General of Tajikistan Bobojon BOBOKHONOV

Respublika Tajikistan /734043 g. Dushanbe/ prospekt A. Sino 126/ Prokuratura Respublikii Tajikistan, Generalnomu Prokuroru BOBOKHONOVU B.K.

(Salutation: “Dear Procurator General”)

Send copies of your letters to:

• the Ambassador of Tajikistan to your country (if there is one)

• the editor-in-chief of Vecherny Dushanbe, which has published interviews with abolitionists

Respublika Tajikistan/ g. Dushanbe / Vecherny Dushanbe / GLAVNOMU REDAKTORU

• the Tajik Permanent Representation at the United Nations in New York (Name Unknown)

Permanent Representative to the UN of the Republic of Tajikistan,

136 East 67^th Street, New York, NY 10021, USA

fax: 00 1 212. 628 0252; 00 1 212. 472 7645

The duration of this action is 6 months

PLEASE SEND ANY REPLIES FROM THE TAJIK AUTHORITIES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO THE INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. (South Caucasus and Central Asia Research and Campaign Team; Amnesty International; 1 Easton Street; London WC1 X ODW; United Kingdom)