In Kyrgyzstan, from the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, human rights defenders have been trying to draw the attention of the authorities to the need to expedite a planned amnesty. So far, these attempts have not brought visible results.
ACCA journalist spoke with Indira Sautova, Executive Director of the Coalition against Torture, about why now it’s not worth delaying the amnesty and why it is necessary to expand the category of prisoners who will be released.
– Several times, the Coalition against Torture appealed to the authorities with a recommendation to expedite the amnesty. What caused such persistence of human rights defenders?
– In a pandemic of coronavirus infection, prisoners are becoming one of the most vulnerable groups. The conditions of detention in closed institutions of the Kyrgyz Republic are such that only one case of infection is enough to infect the entire contingent.
– But the other day, the press service of the State Penitentiary Service (SPS) reported that so far there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection among prisoners. Is this not evidence that the authorities take the situation under control?
– Yes, but the State Penitentiary Service said that none of the prisoners had been tested for coronavirus, since none of the prisoners had any characteristic symptoms. Today, strict quarantine has been introduced in prisons to reduce the possibility of coronavirus infection. We, human rights defenders, understand and support the epidemiological measures of the agency. But at the same time, we suspect that this decision has negative consequences. We began to receive signals from relatives of prisoners that allowance was reduced. That is, if earlier three prisoners receive three loaves of bread per day, now they are given only one. At the same time, the relatives of the convicts cannot transfer them the products. We can neither refute nor confirm this information, but this is disturbing news.
– And what does the SPS say about this?
– We turned to the department and we were told that there was no reason for concern. In general, this is the SPS standard response to all our inquiries and requests. Unfortunately, the Kyrgyz State Penitentiary Service cannot boast of good communications with the community. In the current situation, this is felt especially sharply, since now neither human rights activists, nor relatives of the convicts can get information about the real situation in closed institutions. At the same time, we see how similar structures communicate with society in neighboring countries. In Kazakhstan, the penitentiary service, for example, constantly provides citizens with information about their work and how the procedures have changed in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic. There, the liberated are taken home. What happens in our country with people, who are released due to the expiration of their sentence, we don’t know. And that is causing alarm.
– The planned amnesty should go by the end of spring. Now they are preparing for the first reading two relevant documents developed by different groups of deputies. How do these bills differ?
– Indeed, both documents were registered almost simultaneously. One is initiated by deputies Natalya Nikitenko and Iskhak Masaliev, the second one – by the group of deputies led by Mirlan Bakirov. The first bill practically duplicates the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic of 2017 “On amnesty and the procedure for its implementation”. The Coalition against Torture supports it. The only recommendation to it is to add sick prisoners to the category of people subjected to amnesty. The second bill perplexed the human rights community. The fact is that the document, proposed by Bakirov and other deputies, significantly broadens the list of corpus delicti not falling under the amnesty. In particular, these are crimes against property and economic crimes. As follows from the justification for the proposed draft law on the proposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, article 1 of the draft law was supplemented by parts 2 and 3, which stipulate that paragraphs 1-3 of part 1 of article 1 of the draft law do not apply to persons who have committed certain types crimes that cause the sharpest condemnation on the part of society. As indicated above, these exceptions are included in the text of the draft law, at the proposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic on the grounds of “sharp condemnation by the society” of these types of crimes. The concept of “sharp condemnation by the society” of persons who committed crimes, which are indicated in this list, is the personal opinion of the authors from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic. When adopting draft laws, the Parliament should be guided by the Constitution and the laws of the law-governed state. The concept of “justice and morality” is different for everyone and is very vague, but in any case, every crime causes fair condemnation on the part of society.
If this document is adopted by the Parliament in this form, then a broad amnesty, that would unload the prison system, will not happen. Moreover, the very meaning of this procedure will be nullified, since mainly those, who are already awaiting release in the near future due to the expiration of the sentence, will be amnestied.
– What do you plan to do with this?
– Now we are preparing an examination of these bills with our recommendations. According to the Coalition against Torture, now it is important to conduct a full-fledged amnesty.
– Quite possible that the appearance of the bill, proposed by the deputy Mirlan Bakirov, is some kind of political trick, the desire to score points before the autumn elections. After all, amnesty causes an ambiguous reaction among the public. There are those who believe that this is a normal civilized practice, while others are concerned that the release of prisoners could change the criminal situation for the worse. How sound are these fears?
– The announcement of amnesty is by no means a mass exit of maniacs and murderers from prison. The law on conducting amnesty addresses not only certain categories of people (women, sick and old people), but also the elements of crimes. In other words, the woman, who killed her roommate, would not be amnestied. The same applies to individuals who commit several crimes, to violators of the regime, to people serving a life sentence. On the other hand, there is no urgent need to detain a person who has stolen a chicken. In general, we adhere to the position that if a person committed an economic crime or a crime against property, but paid for the damage in full, then it makes no sense to keep him in prison in this situation with coronavirus.
– Now, other fears are being added to citizens’ fears about the release of prisoners. Potential amnestied people are seen as competitors for jobs, the number of which, according to projection, can be greatly reduced. But amnesty also has economic benefits, doesn’t it?
– Many of those people who fall under the amnesty, one way or another, will be released from prison soon enough. We are talking about those whose sentence is coming to an end. That is, in any case, they will be freed, will be included in social processes, including creating competition in the labor market. At the same time, unloading the penitentiary system today is a way to use budget funds more rationally. Please, understand that now the state is spending money on the detention of those who don’t pose a danger to society. This money today could be used much more efficiently. For example, send them to fight the spread of coronavirus infection or to support socially vulnerable segments of the population of the republic.
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