(RFE/RL)
23 June, 2006 -- A lawyer in Kyrgyzstan says the country's Supreme Court has upheld a death-sentence verdict given her Uzbek client over the killing of an Uyghur business leader in 2001.
Nina Zotova told reporters in Bishkek today that the Supreme Court reached its decision on June 22.
In early 2002, a lower Kyrgyz court had sentenced Otabek Ahadov to death and another three Uyughur exiles to lengthy prison terms in what rights groups say was a politically motivated case.
Zotova today said her client initially confessed to killing businessman Nigmat Bazakov under duress and that he was denied a lawyer at the early stage of the investigation.
Rights campaigner Dilobar Khudaibergenova today said her group, Women Against the Death Sentence and Torture, would appeal the Supreme Court's verdict to international institutions.
(AKIpress, 24.kg, ferghana.ru)