Kyrgyzstan’s rights activist Azimzhan Askarov dies at 69

MOSCOW (AP) — Azimzhan Askarov, a human rights defender in Kyrgyzstan who was serving a life term on charges of involvement in ethnic violence that were widely criticized as trumped-up, has died. He was 69. Leading international human rights organizations have repeatedly urged the Central Asian nation to release Askarov, noting his deteriorating health. Kyrgyzstan’s state penitentiary service said Askarov died Saturday in a prison clinic, a day after he was hospitalized with pneumonia. Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek rights activist, has been sentenced to life for his alleged role in deadly ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010. In 2016, the U.N. Human Rights Committee found that Askarov was arbitrarily detained, held in inhumane conditions, tortured and mistreated.