The National Center of the Kyrgyz Republic for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has prepared the research concerning the situation of persons held in correctional institutions and pre-trial detention centers of the State Penitentiary Service (SPS) under the government of the Kyrgyz Republic on criminal cases related to extremism and terrorism and their rights and freedoms.
The study was prepared on the basis of visits to closed institutions in July and September 2019, together with representatives of the NGO “Human Rights Movement: Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan”. 166 people were interviewed (150 accused, suspected and convicted; 16 employees of closed institutions).
More torture
During the polls, human rights defenders didn’t receive complaints about the use of physical violence by the administration of the institutions. Prisoners only reported abusive behavior by individual employees.
Nevertheless, the authors of the report, on the basis of the obtained data and comparative analysis, made the hypothesized conclusion that people, convicted and having a status of defendants in cases related to extremism and terrorism in the course of investigative measures, are more at risk of torture by law enforcement agencies than those who was convicted of a crime of a different nature.
“The results of the analysis of the number of facts of torture during the period of the National Center’s activity from 2014 to 2019 showed that torture was used in 30-35% of cases in criminal prosecution for various crimes. For the commission of crimes related to extremism and terrorism, 44% of respondents said that they were subjected to torture and cruel treatment during the investigation. Thus, the number of facts of torture of persons, who committed crimes of an extremist nature, exceeds the cases of torture of people who have committed crimes of a different nature by 9-14%,” was noted in the research report.
At the same time, the National Center notes that criminal prosecution for crimes of an extremist and terrorist nature doesn’t affect relations with staff and administration of places of deprivation of liberty.
Moreover, as human rights activists point out, prisoners cannot actually complain about cruel treatment, since the right to submit complaints is violated everywhere and systematically.
“The existing complaints mechanism is quite acceptable, and could be quite effective subject to compliance with all prescribed legal norms by the administrations of institutions. Today, this fact is one of the main and focal problems in the SPS system,” the authors of the report say.
Cold shower and poor food
The conditions for convicts of crimes of an extremist and terrorist nature, and prisoners in correctional institutions, despite the fact, that most of them are held in the conditions of the cell regime, are comparatively better than those of other categories of prisoners. Closest to the requirements of international standards is the condition of the cells, the level of natural and artificial lighting, ventilation.
Human rights activists note, that in almost all places of deprivation of liberty, except the institution No.2 and the pre-trial detention center of the State Committee for National Security in Osh region, including preventive visits, these requirements are also observed with respect to living space standards per person.
At the same time, while visiting the institution No.2, human rights defenders faced a flagrant violation. In one of the rooms, 9 female prisoners were placed on a living area of 11.5 square meters. That is, one person had a little more than one square meter. Although in the same institution at that time, there were cells with a larger quadrature, up to 16 square meters, in which 3-4 convicts were placed.
Another exception was a violation of the provision of an individual sleeping place in the institution No.25 (pre-trial detention center No.5). At the time of the study, it was revealed that the number of prisoners exceeded the number of beds. After checking, it turned out that at the time of the report authors’ visit to the pre-trial detention center No.5, there were repairs in some cells, and therefore several convicts hadn’t temporarily an individual sleeping place.
Researchers came to the conclusion that the quality of the provided food, the material and living conditions of prisoners don’t meet the norms of international and national standards.
So, the norms of international and national legislation regarding the possibility of taking a shower in appropriate hygienic conditions are observed only at the frequency of provision of such. 91% of the respondents, held in correctional institutions, reported that they were given the opportunity to take a shower once a week. 7% of the respondents have this opportunity every day.
However, despite the observance of the frequency of showering, the conditions for the implementation of hygiene procedures don’t comply with generally accepted standards. During the study, prisoners complained that they had to wash in cold water, and shower stalls were often in an unsanitary condition.
The prison administration should, in ordinary hours, provide each prisoner with food that is nutritious enough to maintain his health and strength, of enough good quality, well prepared and served.
The majority of respondents confirmed the provision of three hot meals a day, but at the same time noted the extremely low quality of the food, and therefore, many prisoners had to refuse it. The prisoners complained that they were fed with underdone bread, that the food (meat, fish) had an unpleasant smell. Interviewees noted that the quality of food changes only before the arrival of the commission.
Without sanitation and normal medical care
Human rights defenders examined the quality of medical care provided to prisoners. It turned out that there are serious problems with this in closed institutions of Kyrgyzstan.
In accordance with the requirements of the norms of international and national legislation, all convicts must be subjected to compulsory medical examination and sanitization. However, the results of the study showed that this norm is not fully respected. 17% of the convicts reported that upon their arrival to the correctional facility, there was no medical examination, only a little more than half of the respondents (51%) had sanitization.
To the question of the need to provide medical care at present, 42% of respondents in detention centers and 38% in jail responded affirmatively. 83% of them said this to the administration of the institution in the pre-trial detention center, and 91% – to the correctional facility. However, respectively, in 38% and 46%, no action was taken on applications.
Many respondents expressed their opinion about poor-quality medical care, and in some cases, about its practically absent. Prisoners complain that there are not enough medicinal remedies in closed institutions, and also that they are not given the opportunity to treat their teeth.
Such a low level of medical care for prisoners seems scary. Especially against the background of the spread of coronavirus infection. Since the beginning of the pandemic, human rights defenders have repeatedly appealed to the authorities with a request to speed up the amnesty in order to reduce the risk of an epidemic in closed institutions, where prisoners have no opportunity not to get infected and there are very few chances of receiving high-quality medical care.
Today it became known that one of the employees of the capital pre-trial detention center is infected with COVID-19.
The report also provides data on mortality in the facilities of the State Penitentiary Service. According to the Agency, the number of dead prisoners from 2017 to May 2019 was 154 people, of which:
– in 2017 – 66;
– in 2018 – 65;
– during 5 months of 2019 – 23.
“39% and 16% of respondents said that they knew the facts of death in correctional institutions and pre-trial detention centers. According to the respondents, various illnesses of prisoners become the cause of death, which again casts doubt on the quality of the medical care provided in the penal system,” the authors of the report write.
The document emphasizes that the study didn’t address the issue of mortality among people held in prisons for crimes of an extremist and terrorist nature, but in the course of the interview, the latter expressed doubts about the absence of discrimination in the exercise of their right to an adequate burial.
According to article 36 of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On counteracting terrorism”, the burial of terrorists, who died as a result of suppressing a terrorist act, is carried out in the manner established by the government of the Kyrgyz Republic. Moreover, their bodies are not given for burial, and the place of their burial is not reported.
In 2015, citizens addressed the National Center with a request to assist in obtaining the body of a relative, who died in the pre-trial detention center No.1. Relatives of the deceased were refused the extradition of a body for burial on the basis of the above law. However, a reference to this norm in this case cannot raise doubts, because the deceased convicted person was not killed as a result of the suppression of a terrorist act. His death, according to the State Committee for National Security, was due to cardiovascular collapse.
Amnesty is not for them
The authors of the report note that amendments were made to the Criminal Executive Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, according to which persons, convicted of extremist and terrorist activities, are deprived of the possibility of parole, to replace the unserved part of the sentence with a milder type of punishment, the right to amnesty, serving the sentence in the settlement colony, etc.
That is, even in a pandemic, these people have no chance to go free or change the conditions of the regime to more sparing.
In this regard, the authors write that it is necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of the penal legislation regarding amendments to the Criminal Executive Code of the Kyrgyz Republic on the basis of the Law “On amendments to the Criminal Executive Code of the Kyrgyz Republic”, on the basis of which article 52 was supplemented by part 21, which provides for an isolated detention and serving sentences in cells on strict conditions of persons sentenced to imprisonment for committing crimes of a terrorist nature and extremist orientation. It is extremely important to consider the appropriateness of the amendments made regarding the deprivation of the rights of persons convicted of committing crimes of the above nature to parole, amnesty, transfer to a settlement colony.
Despite the fact that those convicted of extremism and terrorism cannot count on amnesty in the current conditions, it can still improve the situation a little, at least in terms of the fact that fewer prisoners will be placed in cells.
At the same time, it is already clear today that the upcoming amnesty, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, is unlikely to be able to unload prisons.
Human rights activists hoped that the Kyrgyz authorities would give an amnesty in extreme conditions. However, as a result, the document was adopted, that the human rights community of the republic criticized due to the fact that the bill greatly narrowed the category of people falling under the release. In particular, property crimes and economic crimes were excluded from it.
In addition, human rights organizations have repeatedly noted that articles of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, providing for prosecution of extremism and terrorism, are gradually turning into punitive instruments. And there are cases, when innocent people serve their sentences in prisons.
Prior to the entry into force of the new Criminal Code, the Kyrgyz Parliament passed the law according to which the wording of article 299-2 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic (old edition) excluded the statement that if materials of an extremist nature (literature, notebooks, leaflets, brochures, video and audio materials, etc.) were stored “for distribution”, this threatened with imprisonment, which in turn provided for criminal liability simply for the storage of these materials.
As a result, anyone, who stored extremist materials, became criminally prosecuted, even if they were not distributed anywhere. Hundreds of Kyrgyz citizens were convicted under this article “for storage”.
According to experts, in 2010, at least 258 people were convicted under this article. And the number of such cases grew over the following years; 167 cases were instituted in the first nine months of 2016. The punishment was from 3 to 10 years in prison, even if there was no distribution or use to incite violence. Between 2010 and 2017, those convicted of terrorism and religious extremism increased by more than five times (from 79 to 422 people). Every fifth criminal is a woman.
Two years ago (in 2018), the statistics were as follows, “558 people, convicted of religious extremist crimes, are serving their sentences in the Kyrgyz Republic. 16 of them were sentenced to life imprisonment. 96 of these criminals are kept in pre-trial detention centers, 164 are in maximum security and special regime colonies, 206 are in settlement colonies, and 92 are registered with the criminal-executive inspection.”
These convicts are citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. At the same time, not a single acquittal has been passed in the republic under the article “Fomenting national, racial or religious strife”. If the material went to court, then most likely the accused would be convicted.
The new edition of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, which entered into force on January 1, 2019, reinstated the wording that the basis for criminal prosecution is precisely “storage for distribution”. However, at the beginning of 2020, the report was published by the Public Foundation “Civil Initiative for Internet Policy”, which testified that the amendments don’t work properly so far. Law enforcement agencies in Kyrgyzstan are not prosecuting for real calls for violence, discrimination and actions, that have caused anyone damage based on hatred and hostility, but for storing texts and images at home, in the cell at the pre-trial detention center, in the memory of mobile phone.
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