January 20, 2011
His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev
President Republic of Kazakhstan
Astana, Kazakhstan
Your Excellency:
We are writing to express our dismay that Kazakhstan’s leading human rights defender, Mr. Yevgeniy Zhovtis, was not granted early release after the expiration of one-third of his four year sentence for vehicular manslaughter. In spite of being the victim of arbitrary treatment while incarcerated, Mr. Zhovtis fulfilled all reasonable requirements for early release. He has also expressed his sincere regret for the loss of life that resulted from the accident in which he was involved and provided material compensation to the family of the victim, while firmly maintaining that he was not guilty of a criminal offense.
Independent observers and analysts have concluded that the investigation, trial, and appeal of Mr. Zhovtis’ case were marred by with fundamental violations of the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan and of international human rights standards. These flaws have had a profoundly negative effect on your country’s standing in the international community.
The continued incarceration of Mr. Zhovtis, who actively contributed to the drafting of your government’s National Plan for Human Rights reflects poorly on the state of human rights and rule of law in Kazakhstan. We encourage your government to take whatever steps are necessary, consonant with legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to undo this miscarriage of justice. It is crucial for Kazakhstan’s government and justice system to be able to correct flaws such as those seen in the investigation, trial, and appeal of Mr. Zhovtis.
Your government’s failure to release Mr. Zhovtis calls into serious question Kazakhstan’s intention to fulfill its human dimension commitments as reiterated late last year at the OSCE summit in the Astana Commemorative Declaration.
We call on you to reverse the decision that keeps Mr. Zhovtis in jail.
Sincerely,
Aryeh Neier
President
Open Society Foundation
David Kramer
Executive Director
Freedom House
Harry Hummel
Executive Director
Netherlands Helsinki Committee
Bjorn Engesland
Secretary General
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Yuri Dzibladze
President
Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights
Brigitte Dufour
Director
International Partnership for Human Rights
Nadira Eshmatova
Director
Youth Human Rights Group
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Shuhrat Ganiev
Director
Humanitarian Legal Center
Uzbekistan
Valentina Gritsenko
Director
Spravedlivost
Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan
Abdumomun Mamaraimov
Chairman of the Board
Voice of Freedom
Azuza Abdirasulova
Kilim Shami
Kyrgyzstan
Kate Watters
Executive Director
Crude Accountability
Steve Trent
Executive Director
Economic Justice Foundation
Alain Deletroz
Vice President
International Crisis Group
Gavin Hayman
Global Witness
Ludmila Alexeeva
Moscow Helsinki Group
Souhayr Belhassen
President
International Federation for Human Rights
Mary Lawler
Director
Frontline Defenders
Beth Fernandez
Senior Programmes and Policy Officer
ILGA-Europe
Jos Boonstra
Head of Programme EU-Central Asia Monitoring
Nigina Bakhrieva
Director
Public Foundation “Nota bene”
Tajikistan
Sergey Romanov
Director
Independent Centre for Human Rights Protection
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Aleh Hulak
Head
Belarusian Helsinki Committee
Kenneth Roth
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch
Ellen Bork
Director, Human Rights and Democracy
The Foreign Policy Initiative
Sardar Bagishbekov
Director
Golos Svobody Public Foundation
Kyrgyzstan
Starys Kausinis
Director
Civil Defense Fund
Lithuania
Daniil Meshcheryakov
Chair
Centre for Civil Liberties
Ukraine
Elisa Massimino
President and Chief Executive Officer
Human Rights First
Dr.Leila Alieva
President
Center for National and International Studies
Baku, Azerbaijan
CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Secretariat and Steering Committee
The World Movement for Democracy
Umida Niyazova
Director
Uzbek German Forum for Human Rights
