18.08.2006

OPEN LETTER
To:
President of the Kyrgyz Republic Kurmanbek Bakiev,
via email: office@mail.gov.kg

Copy:
Kambaraly Kongantiev,  General Prosecutor of the Kyrgyz Republic
via  email: genproc@bishkek.gov.kg

11 August 2006, Vienna
Dear President Bakiev,

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) is alarmed by the 9 August illegal extradition of 5 Uzbek refugees – Zhakhongir Maksudov, Odilzhon Rakhimov, Yakub Toshboev, Rasulzhon Pirmatov, and Faez Tadzhikhalilov – to Uzbekistan carried out by the Kyrgyz government.

Contrary to its obligations under international law – in particular, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment – the Kyrgyz government has extradited these refugees to Uzbekistan where they face the risk of serious human rights violations, ranging from incommunicado detention and torture to unfair trial. Indeed, according to the principle of non-refoulement, a principle Kyrgyzstan is obliged to follow under the aforementioned Conventions, the forcible return of persons to any state where they would be at risk of serious human rights violations is prohibited, and, as the IHF has documented, such a risk is real in Uzbekistan.

Moreover, four of these refugees were legally recognized as such by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as by the Kyrgyz authorities. In a 14 June statement, the UNHCR announced that the agency had even found permanent resettlement sites for four of the five refugees – it was in the process of reviewing the fifth refugee’s status – but the Kyrgyz General Prosecutor, over a month after the statement, questioned the agency’s decision to recognize the refugees’ status. All five men were extradited without prior notice given to the UNHCR.

With respect to these events in the longer term, we call upon Kyrgyz authorities to end the illegal practice of extraditing individuals to states where they would face a serious risk of human rights abuses. We call upon Kyrgyzstan to follow the principle of non-refoulement and fulfill its international obligations.

In the shorter term, we call upon Kyrgyz authorities to request information about the extradited men’s whereabouts and well being from Uzbek officials and to request that this information be made public.

Respectfully,

Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director