Kyrgyzstan rebutted a report by Amnesty International...

Kyrgyzstan rebutted a report by Amnesty International that it applied the death penalty to mentally retarded people published the international NGO on June 20, 2002. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the USA and Canada Bakytbek Abdrissaev sent a critical message to AI pointing out that in 1997 an entire article was included into the Criminal Code of Kyrgyzstan prohibiting the death penalty for insane persons in the republic, and that a moratorium on death penalty was introduced by the President in 1998. AI issued another press release on June 27 with the appropriate explanations, and the US newspapers New York Times and Washington Times recognised their mistakes on the issue.