In Kyrgyzstan, 90% of cases of torture are used by police officers
Every 12th person, held in the temporary detention center of the internal affairs bodies of Kyrgyzstan, becomes a victim of torture. In 9 of 10 cases, torture is used to force confession of a crime.
The conclusion that more than 90% of cases of torture and cruel treatment are used by police officers is confirmed in the Annual reports of the National Center of the Kyrgyz Republic for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
“In the absolute majority of cases (94%), torture is used by operative officers of the internal affairs bodies in order to obtain a confession,” the report said.
Between 2013 and 2016, in 91.4% of cases the officers of the Department of Criminal Investigation of the Department of Internal Affairs were identified by the respondents as the torturers.
For the period 2016-2018, member organizations of the Coalition against Torture conducted 1018 monitoring visits to temporary detention facilities of the internal affairs bodies and talked to 1723 detainees. This is approximately two thirds (66.6%) of the total number of persons held in the isolation ward during monitoring.
“During the monitoring, 140 applications of torture were received, of which 59 were received in 2016, 43 complaints – in 2017 and 38 – in 2018. In the reporting period, there has been a downward trend in the number of complaints of torture,” the report said.
However, it is too early to say that there is an improvement in the situation of torture, the authors of the report say. They explain the decrease in the number of statements with the fear of detainees and prisoners to report torture, due to the lack of full security guarantees and protection from subsequent repressions, as well as the detainees’ disbelief that the torture statement will be examined promptly and objectively, and those guilty of torture will suffer deserved punishment.
“Sometimes human rights organizations work together to achieve justice and punish torturers. But the cases, when police officers suffered a real punishment, can be counted on the fingers. There are several reasons. Often we simply do not know about cases of violence. Often, prisoners are silent about bullying, fearing their offenders. It also happens that victims first write statements, and then refuse claims. In exchange for this, their relatives who are free receive various material benefits. They simply buy their silence,” Tolecan Ismailova (the Head of the Human rights organization “One World”) told ACCA.
An analysis conducted by human rights organizations showed that most of the time tortured are Kyrgyz people – 75.9%, less often foreign citizens – 24.1%. At the same time, men are the main victims of torture – 97%, among women only 3% reported violence against them in detention centers.
“Among torture victims, 99% are adults and 1% – minors. During the reporting period, the ethnic composition of those who reported the use of torture remained almost unchanged: Kyrgyz – 48.9%, Uzbeks – 28.9% and other nationalities – 22.2%,” the authors of the report note.
The most common way of influencing a victim of torture is to use punches and kicks (79.3%) and various objects (35%) on different parts of the body. And in every third case, torture is accompanied by putting on a head a plastic bag or gas mask (32.5%), which entails blocking air access, as well as handcuffing the victim (28.3%). In every tenth of the reported cases of torture, the victim was subjected to a stun gun (10%).
“There are even more terrifying torture methods that the victims themselves prefer to remain silent about, because it degrades their dignity. It is scary when a person is morally trampled upon. It stays with them for whole life. Even after a person is released, he continues to experience psychological depression. The problem is also that we do not have a psychological assistance service for such people,” Ismailova explained.
