UZBEKISTAN. PROSECUTORS REFUTE AMNESTY DEATH PENALTY CLAIMS

prosecutors in Uzbekistan said they disagreed with conclusions of a report on the application of the death penalty in the country published by Amnesty International.
In a report on death penalty in 2005, Amnesty International said, "in Belarus and Uzbekistan neither death row prisoners nor their relatives are informed of the date of the execution in advance...and the body of the prisoner is not given to relatives for burial and they are not informed of the place of burial."
But the General Prosecutor's Office of the Central Asian state, which has often been criticized for its human rights record, rejected the assertions.
"We consider conclusions of Amnesty International on death penalty issues in Uzbekistan ungrounded," it said in a statement.
The office said the procedures were established by the country's Criminal Code and therefore could not be subject to criticism.
They also said that since 2003 the death penalty had been used as a punishment only for aggravated murder and terrorism. In addition, the law prohibits the execution of men older than 60, women and children.