The Prosecutor General’s office of Kyrgyzstan opened a criminal case on the fact of imprisonment of woman for a period of 25 years without a court decision and the sentence that entered into force. This was reported to ACCA by the Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic, Tokon Mamytov.
According to the state human rights activist, the statement from a citizen serving a sentence in Correctional colony No.2 (ИK-2) under the State Penitentiary Service without a court decision was received by the Ombudsman’s office while monitoring conditions in prisons in the Republic. The woman asked for assistance in receiving an official response from the City court of Tokmok to her statement regarding the review of the criminal case against her, in connection with the introduction of new criminal law from January 2019.
Specialists of the Ombudsman’s office examined the appeal and established a list of violations committed by Kyrgyz officials from 2008 to the present.
Employees of the expert and legal department of the Apparatus of the Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic sent a request to the City court of Tokmok with a request to confirm the information on the receipt of the application from the convict, as well as to inform about the results of its consideration. However, according to them, the response letter signed by the chairman of the City Court of Tokmok, D. Astarkulov, contained a formal answer.
Representatives of the Ombudsman considered this an unsubscribe and appealed to the Chui Regional court with a request to take measures against the chairman of the City court of Tokmok for such an attitude to his duties, as well as provide all the necessary information on the criminal case of the convicted person.
An answer from the Chui Regional court in the office of the Ombudsman was waited in vain for a month. In the second request, human rights activists demanded that the administration of the Chui Regional court respond properly and in full to the first letter, as well as take disciplinary measures against those responsible for not providing a timely response.
The answer came with the signature of the acting chairman of the Chui Regional court, U. Sadyrbekov. It reported that the City court of Tokmok received a statement from the convict on the review of her criminal case and a corresponding submission from the head of the colony ИK-2 in January 2019. But since there is no final court verdict against this citizen, it does not seem possible to review her criminal case.
“On June 24, 2008, this citizen was found guilty by the City court of Tokmok in part 2 of paragraphs 3, 6, 11, 13 of article 97 “Murder”, part 2 of paragraphs 1.4 of article 125 “Unlawful deprivation of liberty” of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. She was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in the colony ИK-2. However, on the basis of the decision of the Chui Regional court of September 9, 2008, the sentence of the City court of Tokmok was canceled, and the criminal case was sent for a new trial to the same court,” the Chui Regional court reports.
In turn, the City court of Tokmok sent the criminal case of the citizen three times to the Prosecutor’s office of the city of Tokmok to ensure the appearance of the defendant at the hearing. After the third sending, the criminal case against the citizen was lost. The Prosecutor’s office of Tokmok and the City court of Tokmok were never able to explain how and when this was happened.
A representative of the Apparatus of the Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic went to the colony to talk with the convict and get acquainted with her personal file.
It became known that as a result of the application of three amnesties, the sentence of a citizen was reduced by 9 years and 8 months. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that she has been in custody from February 25, 2008 to the present. Moreover, as mentioned above, without a court verdict having entered into legal force, since the first sentence of the City court of Tokmok against her was canceled by the Chui Regional court, and the second sentence was never followed due to the loss of the criminal case.
“The present situation of the woman is extremely difficult to characterize, since she is serving a sentence as a convict, but the court’s verdict against her has not entered into legal force, therefore, she is legally considered to be an accused. According to the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, the accused citizen, in accordance with such status, cannot be in the detention center, only in the pre-trial detention center or in the temporary isolation ward,” the Kyrgyz Ombudsman’s office explained.
The Ombudsman of Kyrgyzstan handed over to the Prosecutor General the idea of eliminating the revealed violations of the rights and freedoms of this citizen. The human rights activist asked to start pre-trial proceedings on the fact of the loss of a criminal case against the woman, to conduct an internal investigation into the negligent attitude to his duties by the prosecutors of the city of Tokmok, and, based on the results, give them a legal assessment. In addition, for negligent attitude to official duties on the part of judges and court employees, make an appropriate submission to the disciplinary commission under the Council of judges of the Republic to give a legal assessment of their misconduct. Also, find the lost criminal case and resolve the issue of changing the preventive measure against the woman who is still in custody in the colony.
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