EXTERNAL (for general distribution)AI Index: EUR 50/13/94

Distr: UA/SC

UA 424/94 Fear of imminent execution1 December 1994

UKRAINE Zaur Safar ogly ZILFUGAROV (Заур Сафар оглы ЗИЛФУГАРОВ in Russian), aged 26 and Danilo Aleksandrovich KRASNOV (Данило Александрович КРАСНОВ), aged 23

Amnesty International fears that Zaur Safar ogly Zilfugarov and Danilo Aleksandrovich Krasnov face imminent execution unless the Presidential Clemency Commission of Ukraine recommends that the President of Ukraine exercise his constitutional authority to commute their death sentences.

Zaur Zilfugarov and Danilo Krasnov were sentenced to death for murder by the Crimean Regional Court in session in Yalta on 17 February 1994. Their appeal against the death sentences was rejected by the Supreme Court of Ukraine on 24 November 1994. It is alleged that the Supreme Court only took 20 minutes to turn down the appeal. A petition for clemency which is automatically submitted to the President of Ukraine is now pending with the Presidential Clemency Commission.

Amnesty International believes that it is several months since the Clemency Commission last met. A reliable source has confirmed that the Commission will reconvene shortly and will examine a backlog of petitions from prisoners on death row. The source also reports that the majority of the members of the Commission are supporters of the death penalty, and that the President of Ukraine always follows the Commission's recommendations.

Zaur Zilfugarov, whose family came to the Soviet Union as refugees from Iran in 1946, is of ethnic Azeri origin. Both he and Danilo Krasnov are Russian citizens and live in Moscow. They had gone to Yalta in the Republic of Crimea in Ukraine on business in September 1992. It is alleged that the case against the two men is fabricated and that a third person, who was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment, committed the murder while drunk. Zaur Zilfugarov and Danilo Krasnov claim that their confessions were extracted under duress and that witnesses were pressured into testifying against them.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/faxes/express and airmail letters either in Russian, English or in your own language:

- urging the Clemency Commission to recommend that President Kuchma grant clemency to Zaur Zilfugarov and Danilo Krasnov and commute their death sentences;

- urging the Clemency Commission to recommend that President Kuchma commute all other pending death sentences.

APPEALS TO

Chairman of the Presidential Clemency Commission

Ukraine

252601 Kiev

ul. Bankovaya, 7

Apparat Prezidenta Ukrainy

Kommissiya po voprosam pomilovaniya pri Prezidente

Predsedatelyu

Telegrams: Ukraine, 252601 Kiev, ul. Bankovaya, Kommissiya pomilovaniya

Fax: +7 044 291 61 61

Salutation: Dear Chairman

COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO:

President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma

Ukraine

252601 Kiev

ul. Bankovaya, 7

Prezidentu Ukrainy Kuchma L.

Fax: +7 044 291 61 61

Head of the Department for Citizenship and Clemency Issues at Ukraine's Presidential Administration, P.A. Andreychenko

Ukraine

252220 Kiev

ul. Bankovaya, 11

Otdel po voprosam grazhdanstva i pomilovaniya

pri administratsii Prezidenta Ukrainy

Zaveduyushchemu otdelom Andreychenko P.A.

Fax: +7 044 291 61 61

Chairman of the Supreme Court

Ukraine

252601 Kiev 24 GSP

ul. M. Grushevskogo

Verkhovny Sud Ukrainy

Predsedatelyu

Chairman of the Crimean Regional Court

Ukraine

Respublika Krym

g. Simferopol

Oblastnoy Sud Respubliki Krym

Predsedatelyu

and to diplomatic representatives of Ukraine accredited to your country

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 12 January 1995.