Kyrgyzstan defies UN, upholds life sentence for dissident
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BISHKEK - A court in Kyrgyzstan upheld a life sentence on Tuesday for a prominent dissident accused of "inciting inter-ethnic hatred" in the former Soviet republic, defying U.N. calls for his release.
Azimjon Askarov, a 65-year-old ethnic Uzbek, was convicted of "organising mass disturbances" and stirring up ethnic hatred leading to the killing of a policeman during clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010, when more than 400 people were killed.
His imprisonment has been widely criticised by human rights groups and sparked a political spat with the United States in 2015. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev accused Washington of seeking to "create chaos" in his country by granting Askarov an award and terminated a cooperation accord in retaliation.
Kyrgyzstan has come under fire for its poor human rights record despite holding a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. According to Human Rights Watch, ill-treatment and torture of detainees are widespread, as are violence and discrimination against women and the country's LGBT community.
