In Bishkek, policemen twice tortured an eighteen-year-old guy, demanding confession of robbery.
According to the Bishkek General Department of Internal Affairs, on August 26, 2019, two guys in the housing estate “Archa-Beshik” pilfered a stun gun, costing $28 (2000 KGS), and money in the amount of $57 (4000 KGS). Then they disappeared in an unknown direction. This fact was recorded in the Unified Register of Misconduct and Crime of the Leninsky District Department of the Interior, and pre-trial proceedings were launched under article 201 “Robbery” of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.
18-year-old Maksat Zhaparov was suspected of committing this crime. Next day, on August 27, law enforcement officers came home to the guy.
“They reported that my son committed a crime. And if we “want to solve”, then we need to find $287 (20 000 KGS), and the case will be closed. The family didn’t look for money and didn’t go anywhere, because at first we didn’t take this statement seriously, although we were worried,” says Svetlana Akmoldoeva, mother of Maksat.
According to the parents of Maksat Zhaparov, a statement about their son and two of his friends was written after the conflict by the dormitory’s neighbor.
“It all started last year. Maksat went to college and lived in a dormitory with one guy. Once they quarreled because of the earphones. And then Maksat’s neighbor wrote a statement to my son and his two other friends, as if they had robbed him. The stun gun allegedly was taken by my son. One of his friends took money, and the third friend threatened him with a knife,” says Svetlana.
According to her, today the criminal prosecution continues only against Maksat Zhaparov. Cases against his friends are terminated.
A month later, police again appeared in the house, where Maksat Zhaparov lives with his parents. This time they tried to forcefully take the guy to the department. Although there was no document confirming the legality of their actions.
“So, we were given time to find the money. Maksat has a clever pair of hands, he does welding and earns his living. They probably thought that during this time we would collect the indicated amount,” says the woman.
The neighbors, who gathered to the noise, were not allowed to arrest the guy. There was a brawl during which Svetlana’s husband received bodily harm.
An official paper was brought on September 25. Maksat Zhaparov was summoned to the department by notice. Pre-trial proceedings began. The guy was informed that he was a suspect, but no procedural documents were provided either to himself or to his family members.
A month later, the investigator urgently called the guy to the police department.
“We got a call when we were visiting our relatives in Suusamyr. They demanded to come urgently. As a result, we arrived at the police station at night. Maksat was locked in their office, and they took me out into the corridor,” recalls the mother of the young man.
Later, the guy told relatives that in the investigator’s office he was under psychological pressure. They demanded him to confess to robbery.
Then, at the same night, law enforcement officers took him to the 4th city hospital for examination. According to him, on the way to the hospital, he was beaten with a bottle of Coca-Cola and strangled, putting a plastic bag over his head.
As a result, Maksat Zhaparov was placed in a temporary detention facility as a suspect in a crime. In court, the young man openly declared beating. Both the prosecutor and the judge heard this. Despite this, they decided to leave the guy for a month in a pre-trial detention center, then the period of detention was extended for another month.
In mid-January, at a confrontation with the applicant, the lawyer noticed a red spot on the forehead of her client. She asked the guy where the redness came from.
“It turned out that the investigator (new one, as before, was challenged) called me fat. My son interceded for me, a verbal skirmish began. The investigator, according to my son, pulled him by the ears, and then told the attendant to give Maksat a lesson. He hit him on the head. After that my son began to vomit. They called an ambulance, the medics wanted to take Maksat to the hospital, but the police officers did not allow him to be taken away,” says Svetlana Akmoldoeva.
On the fact of the first and second cases of torture, the woman wrote a statement to the Prosecutor General’s office of the Kyrgyz Republic, and also contacted the National Center for the Prevention of Torture.
“However, the competent authorities do not react in any way to my statements,” the mother of Zhaparov told ACCA.
According to her, on January 20, a preventive measure for her son was changed to house arrest.
“He needs inpatient treatment. After returning from the pre-trial detention center, we went to the doctor and passed all the necessary tests. Now we have a medical referral, and the other day, Maksat will go to the hospital, to the neurology unit,” the woman explained.
Legal assistance in cases of torture of a young man is provided by the Coalition against Torture. The human rights organization believes that law enforcement officers could also break the law by qualifying the crime, which Maksat Zhaparov was accused of, as robbery.
“The guy was detained for allegedly taking the stun gun and $57 (4000 KGS). The total amount of damage is $86 (6000 KGS). It does not exceed $143 (10 000 KGS), that is, 10 estimate indicators. It means that this crime is of minor gravity and should be considered within the framework of the Code of Misconduct, which entered into force on January 2019. Nevertheless, the investigation for some reason decided to qualify the act as robbery and to select a preventive measure in the form of imprisonment. The article “Theft” is found both in the Code of Misconduct and in the Criminal Code. The question whether this case will be considered by the Code of Misconduct or the Criminal Code is decided by the investigator on the sum of the damage and the harm caused. That is, if a damage is above $143, then it will automatically be not a misdemeanor, but a crime,” Indira Sautova, the director of the Coalition against Torture, explained to ACCA.
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