The UN Human Rights Committee issued its opinion on the case of Firuskhan Fiziev, who was beaten to death in the building of the State Committee for National Security. Gulshaiyr Abdirasulova, executive director of the human rights center “Light of century” [“Kylym shamy”], told ACCA about this.
The Committee concluded that Kyrgyzstan didn’t conduct a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the circumstances of the torture and death of the victim, and didn’t provide effective legal protection.
The Committee also found a violation of several articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Gulshaiyr Abdirasulova told the details of the case of Firuskhan Fiziev.
Firuskhan Fiziev graduated from the law institute at the end of the 90s. In 2001, he was hired by the State Customs Service of the Kyrgyz Republic, where he worked until his death. During his work, he received many awards and accolades. His last position was the chief inspector of the Department for combating drug trafficking.
In 2011, at the central warehouse of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, a large shortage of firearms was found (84 units). The State Committee for National Security came to the conclusion that the weapons were being illegally sold. The then chairman of the Department, Keneshbek Dushebaev, stated that several officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (employees of the financial and economic department), as well as a major of the customs service Firuskhan Fiziev, were involved in this case.
“As part of this case, at the end of June 2011, he was detained and taken to the State Committee for National Security for interrogation. According to the testimony of the witness, Firuskhan Fiziev was brought in handcuffs. First, they took him into the courtyard and there about 15 officers of the State Committee for National Security began to brutally beat him. Then, they took him into the building, where they continued to beat him in the office, demanding confessions,” Abdirasulova said.
At the same time, as the human rights activist notes that Fiziev’s involvement in the case of the sale of weapons from the MIA’s warehouse has not been proven.
“According to our information, Fiziev had a business that they wanted to take away from him. This was the reason for his arrest. Fiziev was framed, and they tried to force him to give up his business,” she says.
The beaten customs officer was taken away from the State Committee for National Security at about 5 am in an ambulance. As it turned out later, an ambulance team arrived to record the death of Fiziev.
At the time of his death, he was 44 years old.
A citizen of Tajikistan Banyusha Rezazadeh addressed the public fund “Light of century” [“Kylym shamy”] with a request to investigate the death of her brother. She flew to Bishkek the next day after learning about the death of a close relative.
A criminal case was opened on the fact of torture. The medical examination showed that the man died as a result of severe beating.
“Multiple bruises, abrasions of the head, face, neck, trunk and extremities, with a bruised brain, fractures of the ribs, sternum, thoracic vertebrae, with hemorrhages in the internal organs were obtained by Fiziev not simultaneously, both in vertical and horizontal positions. According to the period of time, the described bodily injuries were received shortly before death, and they led to the development of traumatic shock. In the aggregate, they are considered as serious harm to health, resulting in death” the experts said.
The suspects in the torture case were two officers of the special forces “Alpha” of the State Committee for National Security, who took the detainee to the reception block. The State Committee for National Security claimed that Fiziev died because he jumped out of the window of the second floor of the Department’s building in an attempt to escape.
Employees of Alpha were charged under two articles: 305 (“Exceeding official powers”) and 104 (“Inflicting grievous bodily harm”) of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic (in the old edition). In 2015, the Regional Court of Chui acquitted them.
Fiziev’s lawyers upheld the court’s decision, since both the human rights activists and the family members of the deceased were confident that people, who were in the dock, were not involved in the torture of Firuskhan Fiziev.
There was no proper investigation on the part of the state bodies, so the “Light of century” [“Kylym shamy”] sent a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee. As a result, the Committee found a violation of several articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“Based on the considerations of the UN Committee, the state must now do the following: reopen the investigation into the torture case and bring the perpetrators to justice, as well as pay compensation to the victim’s family (author: at the moment, the victim is his sister). Unfortunately, there have not yet been cases of voluntary implementation of the Committee’s decisions in the Kyrgyz Republic. It turns out that in order to achieve justice, the sister of the deceased must go to court again. We are working on this now,” Gulshaiyr Abdirasulova said.
She noted that, in theory, Kyrgyzstan should report to the UN Human Rights Committee on the measures taken in this case within 180 days. However, according to her, practice shows that the implementation of the Committee’s decisions takes longer in the Kyrgyz Republic.
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