In Kazakhstan, four police officers were convicted of torture
Aktobe City Court sentenced four police officers accused of torture. According to the indictment, the Deputy Head of the Police Department No. 4 of Almaty region of Aktobe Ruslan Esanov, and three operative officers – captain Marat Temirgaliev, senior lieutenant Dastan Khojibaev and lieutenant Asylbek Talasbaev tortured the detainee R. Kulmukhambetov for more than three hours, wresting an admission of commitment of theft.
Recall, on January 18, Kulmukhambetov was arrested for 8 days for disorderly conduct and disobedience to the police. On January 21, the doctor examined the arrested. According to his testimony, Kulmukhambetov was safe and sound.
On January 24, in one of the hotels in the city, two bags were stolen with smoothbore guns. Police began to demand that Kulmukhambetov take the blame upon himself. However, he did not agree.
On January 25, the man was released from the detention center, but he was not allowed to go home. He was taken to the police station, whose jurisdiction was the hotel, where the theft took place. There he was interrogated under torture behind closed doors.
As follows from the case file, at first Ruslan Esanov wrested an admission from Kulmukhambetov. Then he was replaced by Marat Temirgaliev. However, the beatings were unsuccessful. Kulmukhambetov didn’t admit what he hadn’t done.
Then four police officers tied his hands behind his back, put him on the floor, and put a plastic bag on his head. From time to time he was allowed to breathe air. They were asking the same question if he would take the blame for the theft of guns and four other thefts. The entire interrogation procedure, with torture and other mockery, the police filmed, threatening Kulmukhambetov to distribute the video on social networks. When he finally agreed to admit the guilt, he was untied, and the video was deleted from phone.
According to the conclusion of forensic medicine experts, there were found bruises on the body of Kulmukhambetov. In addition, he had 6 broken ribs.
The court found the police officers guilty evidence sufficient and sentenced Ruslan Esanov to five years in prison with deprivation of the right to hold law enforcement posts for three years.
“How so?” Esanov was indignant after adjudgement. “There is no proof that there was a crime!”
A similar punishment was received by Marat Temirgaliev. Asylbek Talasbaev and Dastan Khojibaev received four years in prison. They are also prohibited to hold law enforcement positions for three years.
The court also decided to recover from the defendants a moral damage in favor of Kulmukhambetov in the amount of 1300 US dollars.
In addition, the court issued a private ruling against the Head of the Police Department of Aktobe region, pointing out the improper work of the leadership concerning the prevention and suppression of violations of constitutional human rights by police officers.
It should be noted that this is not the first case in Aktobe region when the top leadership of the police departments directly participated in the torture of detainees. For example, in November 2016, Mugalzhar district court found the Head of the local Criminal Police Department guilty of torturing a witness of hooliganism in the city of Kandyagash. The court sentenced the police officer to three years in prison.
