- Award-winning journalist
Azimjon Askarov died on July 25 in the prison where he was serving a life sentence. - Askarov was jailed after reporting on ethnic violence in Jalalabad,
Kyrgyzstan . - In 2010 Askorov set out to report on the death of a police officer, but was instead accused of inciting the
crime . - The UN previously found that the accusations were unfounded.
Award-winning journalist Azimjon Askarov died in prison on July 25.
The 69-year-old reporter and human rights activist was sentenced to life 10 years ago. He had set out to report on the death of a police officer, but was then accused of inciting the crime.
Despite appeals and rallying cries for his release, Kyrgyzstan authorities refused to release Askarov, and last week he succumbed to deteriorating health, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
"Azimjon Askarov's death is a direct result of Kyrgyzstan authorities' disregard for his health and basic human rights. This is a tragedy that could have been prevented," Gulnoza Said,
In the last weeks of his life, he was feverish and unable to walk, but authorities refused to administer a COVID-19 test. It was medical neglect that caused his death, CPJ reported.
"My husband suffers from osteochondritis, bone and joint pains torment him terribly and no medicine helps him," his wife, Khadicha Askarova, wrote in a letter to Kyrgyzstan President Sooronbay Jeenbekov in March, pleading for his release.
"His health is deteriorating and causing more and more concern," she added. "I bring him painkillers and medicinal herbs. He prepares infusions and is alone in his fights against his pain and ailments."
Askarov's arrest was in retaliation for his years of reporting on corrupt government officials, the CPJ found
In June 2010, Askarov had been reporting on rising tensions between ethnic Uzbek and Kyrgyz people in his hometown of Bazar-Korgon, in Jalalabad.
The city was among hotspots of a conflict that killed at least 200 and displaced at least 400,000, according to the BBC.
Askarov had previously reported on legal corruption, prison rapes, and police brutality, eventually forming a human rights group, Vozdukh (Air), and mediating between law enforcement and the community, the CPJ reported.
When he rushed out to cover the killing of a police officer, he was arrested along with three others, and accused of inciting the violence, according to a CPJ 2012 special report.
He was beaten numerous times in custody, and police threatened to rape his wife and daughter if he did not hand over his reporting, Askarov told the CPJ.
In September 2010, he was convinced of charges that included incitement to ethnic hatred and complicity in the murder of a police officer. They were described as being unfounded in 2016 by the UN Human Rights Committee.
The CPJ's 2012 report, which was produced after reviewing court documents and interviews with Askarov's lawyers and defense witnesses, concluded the case was flawed and intended as police retribution for his years of reporting.
"I always obstructed their corrupt work," Askarov was recorded as saying in the CPJ report. "They hated me."
- Insider is covering Askarov's case in conjunction with The One Free Press Coalition, which raises awareness of the world's persecuted journalists.
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