In August, the Law on Protection from False IMPUNITY and Inaccurate Information was signed by In May, the State Penitentiary Service closed the president, amid concerns that it unduly its investigation into the death in 2020 of restricted the right to freedom of expression prisoner of conscience Azimjan Askarov from and could prevent criticism of public figures. Covid-19-related complications. A human It empowered unnamed state bodies to shut rights NGO, Bir Duino, successfully down or block websites for publishing “false appealed against the decision and petitioned or inaccurate” information, on the basis of a the Prosecutor’s Office to transfer the complaint by a private individual or a legal investigation to the State Committee for entity. National Security to avoid a conflict of TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT interest. Azimjan Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek human rights defender, had been sentenced Torture and other ill-treatment by law to life imprisonment in September 2010, enforcement officials continued to be following an unfair trial and torture. widespread and ineffectively investigated. Numerous international demands for his According to a survey published in July by release, and concerns over his deteriorating the NGO Coalition against Torture, 35% of health, had been ignored. survivors were tortured during questioning as suspects, 28% while being questioned as witnesses and 24% while the police were LATVIA checking their identity. The UN Human Rights Committee ruled in Republic of Latvia March in the case of Sharobodin Yuldashev Head of state: Egils Levits that Kyrgyzstan had failed to carry out a Head of government: Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš prompt, efficient and impartial investigation into his torture allegations. Sharobodin Border guards used force to pushback Yuldashev, an ethnic Uzbek, was tortured by refugees and migrants at the border with police officers in July 2011 to force him to Belarus. Women and girls faced difficulties “confess” to crimes during the ethnic accessing sexual and reproductive health violence in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010. In services. There remained no legal bar to December 2011, the four police officers who discrimination on grounds of sexual had tortured him were charged with abuse of orientation and gender identity. power and unlawfully entering his house. Statelessness remained high. Some They were acquitted in 2012. Sharobodin children were discriminated against in Yuldashev was sentenced to 16 years’ access to education. imprisonment for participating in mass riots, BACKGROUND destroying property, robbery and taking hostages. The state of emergency in response to the In July, a new Criminal Procedural Code Covid-19 pandemic ended in April but many was adopted alongside other laws. Human restrictions remained. rights defenders expressed concerns that it Latvia acceded to the Optional Protocol to impeded the work of lawyers while delaying the Convention against Torture in December. their access to suspects. Furthermore, it reintroduced an additional check before the REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS opening of criminal investigations which had Under a state of emergency beginning in existed before 2017 and prevented prompt August, Latvian border guards used force to investigations into torture allegations. summarily return people arriving at the border with Belarus in search of asylum in Latvia. The emergency law provided for food and medical assistance in compliance with Amnesty International Report 2021/22 228