In Kyrgyzstan, a young man died a few hours after being detained by law enforcement officers. The human rights activists were informed about this by the relatives of the man who died under strange circumstances.
26-year-old Muhammed Kanibek uulu left home on October 15 and never returned there. By the evening of the same day, the mother and wife of the deceased tried to call him, but the phone was disconnected. Later they learned that Muhammed’s body was in the morgue of the Regional children’s hospital of Osh city.
“One of the police officers unofficially informed that Muhammed’s body is in one of the morgues in Osh, and his car is at the auto-pound in Kyzyl-Kiya. We left for Osh in a hurry,” said his cousin Gylychbek Gayvaliev.
Several people were on identification, took photographs of the body and entries in the register. They said that there were many bruises on the guy’s body – on his wrists, shins and feet.
Later, the relatives managed to find out that a few hours before death, Muhammed had been detained in Kyzyl-Kiya. This happened on October 15 after 20:00. Operational officers took his car to the auto-pound, and the detainee was taken to the Regional police department in Osh. What happened there is unknown.
“None from the law enforcement agency called us and informed about his arrest, especially about the tragedy that had happened. We were in the dark for long hours,” the relatives of the deceased are outraged.
An autopsy of the deceased Muhammed Kanibek uulu was done in a hurry. When relatives arrived at the morgue, they were told that they could take the body. As for the official conclusion, it is not ready yet.
Most likely, this story would have been hushed up, but the relatives of the deceased refused to put up with these circumstances and threatened with mass rallies against the arbitrariness in law enforcement agencies. They also appealed to the human rights organization “One World” (“Bir Duino”) with a request to support the investigation into the death of their deceased relative.
The response from law enforcement agency was not long in coming. On October 18, the press service of the Department of Internal Affairs of Osh region issued an official message, which says that the previously convicted Muhammed Kanibek uulu was detained on October 15 in Kyzyl-Kiya.
“When trying to resist the police officers, they fired at him with four bullets from Fort-12RM traumatic pistol, about that there is an entry in the electronic journal of the police department of Kyzyl-Kiya district. He was taken to the Regional police department, lost consciousness. The police took him to an ambulance, where he died without regaining consciousness,” the police informed.
It is also reported that the Internal Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched an investigation. In addition, the Office of the State Committee for National Security in the city of Osh and Osh region began pre-trial proceedings on the fact of the use of torture and cruel treatment against the deceased.
Later, the law enforcement agency changed the version of what happened. The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs circulated a second press release, which reported that the results of the internal investigation revealed that due to the negligence of the employees there was no medical examination before the detainee was delivered to the office of the Regional police department, there is no registration in the register, and the officers themselves were unable to provide timely a medical assistance…
“For unknown reasons, Muhammed lost consciousness after he was taken to the office of the Regional police department, and died on the way to the ambulance,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs explained.
As a result, five employees (the head of the department and four operational officers) were dismissed from their posts. Another employee was publicly disciplined.
Leave feedback about this