Kyrgyzstan: A year after the murder of Alisher Saipov - no closer to the truth

Amnesty International believes that the handling to date of the criminal investigation into his death indicates that there is little political will to bring those who ordered and those who committed the killing to justice. The authorities launched a much publicized investigation into the murder of Alisher Saipov immediately after his death, however, despite the resources allocated and the high profile given to the investigation, little progress appeared to be made and the investigation was reported to have been suspended twice before being re-opened in spring 2008. Alisher Saipov's family publicly appealed to President Kurmanbek Bakiev in June 2008 to urge him not to forget his promise to personally supervise the investigation and ensure that the suspected perpetrators are brought to justice without delay. However, five months later, on the anniversary of Alisher Saipov's death, not only do the murderers still need to be identified, but there appears to be no substantive progress in the investigation to determine who ordered the killing.

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