In Aravan district of Osh region, law enforcement officers try to pin a criminal drug case on a man who was tortured by the police four years ago. This was reported by the human rights movement “One World Kyrgyzstan” (“Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan”).
In March 2021, the relatives of a 42-year-old resident (Sh. A.) of Aravan region turned to human rights defenders. The father of four children, who was previously worked in Russia, returned to his homeland. He made a living as a construction worker by odd jobs, called for prayers in the local mosque (pronounced the azan).
He and his relatives said that police officers had planted drugs weighing just over one kilogram into their housed during the search on February 9, 2021. According to the man and his family members, this was a kind of revenge on the part of law enforcement agencies, since 4 years ago he dared to report the use of torture by law enforcement officials.
On March 17, 2017 in the evening, Sh. A. was walking to the mosque to perform namaz when a car stopped near him. There were four men in the car. Two of them got out and told him to get into the car to talk. Sh. A. refused, saying that he was in a hurry to namaz. Then they grabbed his hands and sat him in the back seat of the car.
He was taken to the district police station, where he was taken to an office on the second floor. The chief demanded from Sh. A. to plead guilty in a drug case, threatened to charge him with possession and distribution of one kilogram of drugs. The policeman used foul language, insulted the man, and hit him twice in the face with his hand.
Sh. A. declared his innocence. Then the police officer ordered the other five law enforcement officers to transfer the detainee to another office and use a truncheon against him.
The order was carried out. Sh. A. was transferred to another room, where they started beating him. According to him, they beat him in the kidneys. In addition, he was tortured with a plastic bag. One officer held his hands, another put a bag on his head and blocked the air for some time. They took off his trousers, laughed at him, mocked and humiliated him.
Then he was taken out into the corridor and again brought into the chief’s office. There was also a certain R. R., who stated that Sh. A. allegedly gave him a drug 3-4 months ago. After these words, the chief hit Sh. A. in his face again. The man tried to say that R. R. lied, but he left the office.
The police chief again recalled the threat of finding one kilogram of drugs in the house of Sh. A. The officers forced him to write an explanatory note, only then they returned his license and his cell phone. At midnight, they let Sh. A. go home.
On April 1, 2017, Sh. A. appealed to the District Prosecutor’s Office with a statement about the use of torture by the officers of the district police station of Aravan. He noted that he was immediately afraid to make such a statement. At that moment, Sh. A. had no opportunity to seek qualified legal assistance from experienced lawyers, and his torture case was written off as a nomenclature.
In the drug case, he got off with a fine of 30,000 KGS, which he paid.
Four years later, in February 2021, the officers of the district police station remembered Sh. A. and again in the drug case. 50-year-old resident of Osh (M. Sh.) testified that the man allegedly gave her drugs weighing 35.34 grams, which she handed over to the district police station on February 6, 2021. Sh. A. himself denies this, claiming that he has never seen this woman before. He first saw her during the investigation and in court on August 9, 2021.
Human rights activists note that the woman, who blames Sh. A., is a defendant in several criminal cases.
“By the decision of the City Court of Osh at the end of September 2009, she was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud. In January 2010, she was in one of the closed penitentiary institutions, where she allegedly met Sh. A. But he denies these testimonies, since he has evidence that it was during the period, when he was in Russia to earn money. And there is an entry in his work book,” the human rights organization reported.
The defendant’s lawyers presented evidence that M. Sh. already gave false testimony.
“Despite the fact that her testimony raises doubt, they become the basis for accusing citizens who receive real terms of imprisonment. Unfortunately, the investigating authorities did not carry out work to establish the fact of the existence of a connection between Sh. A. and the applicant. No detailing of the calls from their phones was carried out. No fingerprints were taken from the bag containing the drugs. And all these serious gaps in the investigation may cause Sh. A. to be imprisoned for 15 years for the fact that, as he claims, drugs were planted on him,” the lawyers note.
It is indicated that hearings in the District Court of Aravan are ongoing.
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