The National Center for the Prevention of Torture of the Kyrgyz Republic (NCPT) has published its regular annual report, which analyzes the situation with mortality in closed institutions of the republic.
The National Center sent inquiries to the relevant state bodies that have jurisdiction over places of deprivation and restriction of liberty. The requested information was provided by all state bodies, with the exception of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The National Center notes that the Ministry of Education has repeatedly ignored their requests, not providing the required information and thereby violating the Law on the National Center, the recommendations of the NCPT and the resolutions of the parliament of the republic.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic in an official response reported that in the period from 2019 to 2021, eight people died in temporary detention facilities of the internal affairs bodies, three of whom were taken to medical institutions for treatment and died due to a heart attack (two people), COVID- 19 (one person). The cause of death of four people was suicide.
“This fact should be the subject of special, careful consideration by the relevant authorities in order to determine the responsibility of officials, the reasons and conditions for committing suicide,” the authors of the report believe.
One person died as a result of injuries inflicted by fellow inmates, which, as noted by human rights activists, also raises great concern about ensuring the safety of life and health of detainees in the temporary holding facilities, as well as the country’s obligations under international human rights treaties.
From the official response of the State Committee for National Security, it follows that for the period 2019-2021, there were no cases of death of persons in closed institutions subordinate to them.
However, the National Center indicates that during the specified period, the facts of the death of prisoners held in the pre-trial detention center of the State Committee for National Security took place. But at the same time, they were not included in the statistics of the State Committee for National Security due to the death of a prisoner outside the pre-trial detention center, in a medical facility.
Although, as the authors of the report emphasize, all deceased prisoners, at the time of death, held in the temporary holding facilities / detention centers of the State Committee for National Security and taken to medical facilities for health reasons, should be included in the statistics as those who died during their detention in a closed institution.
