For six years now, human rights activists have been trying to bring to justice the employees of the Department of the State Committee for National Security in Osh city for the torture of a 28-year-old resident of Osh.
Since 2015, a 28-year-old resident of the city of Osh has been serving a 12-year sentence on charges of separatist activities. Initially, the City court sentenced him to 16 years, but after the entry into force of the new codes, the lawyers turned to the Regional court, where the term was reduced by 4 years.
The man pleads not guilty. According to him, in July 2013, he really was in Syria for two weeks. However, according to him, he didn’t take part in combat operations and didn’t receive any rewards for this. It’s worth noting that he was charged under the article “Mercenary”, which implies receiving material rewards.
“In December 2013, after a search in his house, the guy was brought to the Office of the State Committee for National Security in Osh city and Osh region. The employees also demanded that he sign confessions. For the compliance of the young man, torture was used. According to him, he was punched in the stomach, an electric current was passed through his body. Unable to endure the torture, he wrote an explanatory note under the dictation of the staff. Then he was released,” the human rights activists say.
However, in January 2014, he was again detained. During interrogation, he was again tortured with electric shocks, stripped naked, taken outside and buried in the snow. According to the young man, he was afraid to tell anyone about the torture, since the officers had free access to his cell and there was a threat to his safety. He reported torture only in March 2015, when he was in the investigative institution No. 25 of the State Service for the Execution of Punishments.
An investigation was launched into the use of torture. However, as the lawyers note, the prosecutor didn’t carry out a careful investigation. The forensic medical examination, appointed after a year and a half, didn’t reveal traces of torture. There was no comprehensive forensic psychological and psychiatric examination, which would reveal the fact of receiving mental suffering, which, as you know, remain for life.
As a result, in May 2015, referring to the fact that the man was found guilty and the absence of bodily injuries recorded by the examination, the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Osh garrison refused to initiate a criminal case on the fact of torture against a 28-year-old resident of Osh.
“In July 2019, the City court of Osh satisfied the lawyers’ complaint and sent the materials to the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Osh garrison to conduct investigative actions and make a legal decision. However, the Military Prosecutor’s Office filed a submission with the Regional court, which sided with the Military Prosecutor’s Office and overturned the decision of the investigating judge of the City court. Later, on August 20, 2019, the Regional court also refused to initiate a case, citing the fact that the period for appeal had expired, since 4.5 years had passed,” the victim’s lawyers explain.
Due to the peculiarities of the Criminal Procedure Code, the defenders didn’t have the opportunity to appeal against this ruling of the Regional court. Then, they began to work to achieve the abolition of this norm (part 3 of article 430 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic), because it put significant obstacles to the protection of citizens from torture. It took almost 1.5 years to achieve the abolition of this norm through the appeal to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court.
Finally, on February 17 this year, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court canceled this provision. Then there was a period when the decision of the Constitutional Chamber came into effect. As soon as this happened, in May of this year, the lawyers prepared a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court.
“We ask that the ruling of the Regional court of August 20, 2019 be canceled and the ruling of the City court of July 23, 2019, which was in favor of the victim, remains in force. We also submitted a petition to give a review of the forensic medical examination, since the examination became the main reason for refusing to initiate a criminal case. The examination raises doubts, since the visual examination didn’t reveal traces of trauma from the use of electric current and torture in the snow,” said the human rights organization ‘One World (Bir Duino) Kyrgyzstan’.”
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