Kyrgyzstan: 10 houses damaged by fire

On 7 August 2016 a fire damaged 10 houses, private buildings on Shamshad Street in the Kara-Suu District of the Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan. The fire started around 20:30, within two hours three houses burnt down completely, the other suffered a partial damage. The total area damaged by the fire was 900 square meters.

According to residents, the fire started because of faulty wiring. Mainly ethnic Uzbeks live in the Shamshad Street. During the tragic events of June 2010, their homes were destroyed, along with the gas pipeline network. Since then the gas supply was not restored due to the high cost of the relevant works, and most residents have been using electrical stoves.

Firefighters arrived only after 40 minutes, explaining their late response by the fact that the residents

phoned the fire department servicing a different district. Only after the residents themselves came to the fire station and tearfully begged the firefighters to help them, the firefighters left for the residential area where the accident happened.

Three people suffered burns of varying degrees; two children were taken to the hospital. Residents of Shamshad Street M. Rakhmanberdiev, A. Alimov, K. Iminov and a resident of the Navoi Street S. Dadazhanova are especially in need of help. All the victims are ethnic Uzbeks.

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia - AHRCA calls on the Kyrgyz government to investigate thoroughly the cause of the fire, and earnestly requests to provide humanitarian assistance to the victims.

We call on Turkey to stop the extradition of Abdurashid Khamidov - a citizen of Tajikistan

Turkey scheduled the extradition of a citizen of Tajikistan Abdurashid Khamidov a member of the "Group 24" for 5 August 2016. We appeal urgently to cancel his deportation to Tajikistan, where torture is systemically practiced.

Abdurashid Khamidov (date of birth: 15.12.1989), a citizen of Tajikistan. He is a member of an opposition political movement Group-24.

Mr Khamidov is persecuted by the country of origin for his opposition activities as a member of the Group-24. In 2014 Tajikistan proclaimed the group as an "extremist organisation" for the criticism spoken out by its activists. In 2015, Mr Khamidov applied for international protection at the UNHCR office in Ankara.

He has been under the arrest since 15 April 2016. Documents for his deportation to Tajikistan on 5 August have been processed.

Abdurashid Khamidov was a confidant of the leader of Group-24, Umarali Kuvatov, who was shot dead on 5 March 2015 in Istanbul. On 19 December 2014, Mr Khamidov was arrested together with Mr Kuvatov. We wrote about it in detail in our press release «Turkey: the leader of «Goup 24» Umarali Kuvatov is detained» dated 20 December 2014.

Tajikistan is persecuting Mr. Khamidov for political reasons.

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia calls on Turkey to stop the extradition of Abdurashid Khamidov, because it would violate the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits torture under any circumstances. Namely - Article 3 of the Convention, which states: "No State Party shall expel, return or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia reported about Abdurashid Khamidov’s case to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the OSCE, the Amnesty International, the HRW, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee - NHC, the International Partnership for Human Rights - IPHR and the media.