Newsflash

12 July 2000

AI Index EUR 62/017/2000 - News Service Nr. 137

Uzbek prisoner executed in secret

Amnesty International has just learnt that Uzbek prisoner Dmitry Chikunov, sentenced to death for the murder of two men, was executed on Monday. The news was given to his mother as she went to visit him in Tashkent prison today. On an earlier visit yesterday she was told by the prison guards that she could not see him and should come back the next day.

The news of this execution is particularly disturbing, especially in the light of the concerns -- repeatedly raised by Amnesty International with the Uzbek authorities -- about Dmitry Chikunov's death sentence being based on a confession reportedly extracted under torture. Amnesty International is not aware that any investigation into allegations that Dmitry Chikunov's confession was extracted under duress was instigated.

Furthermore, this execution highlights the secrecy with which the state treats information on the death penalty and individual death sentences in Uzbekistan.

Amnesty International -- which only this morning issued a public statement expressing concern about this and other death sentences in Uzbekistan -- reiterates its earlier appeal to the Uzbek authorities to issue a moratorium on death sentences and executions and to move towards the abolition of the death penalty in the country.

*** Dimitry Chikunov's mother is available for interviews. To arrange one, please contact Amnesty International's press office at the number below.

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For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566

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