In Kyrgyzstan, a convicted colonel changed one psychiatric hospital to another

Police Colonel Abduvali Akjolov, convicted of drug trafficking, was transferred to the psychiatric hospital of general regime after 4 years of compulsory treatment in the high security psychiatric hospital.

 Abduvali Akjolov, the former Head of the 9th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was taken to a psychiatric hospital in 2015 after being arrested in a drug trafficking case. Prior to that, he was repeatedly charged with various criminal cases. In a criminal case related to looting after the events of 2010, he was convicted. Akjolov was given 13 years, but they left a preventive measure in the form of house arrest.

The criminal case involving the sale of drugs became fatal for the colonel. As part of this charge, several people detained him. At the same time, according to lawyers, relatives and human rights activists, as well as according to the initial testimony of Abduvali Akjolov (later he could not speak for himself), procuring admission of guilt, law enforcement officers severely beat him and tortured him for six hours.

After all this, Akjolov was taken to the 4th city hospital in Bishkek with a large loss of blood, a serious head injury, multiple fractures of facing part of his head, a fracture of the nose; later, hematomas of the brain and multiple bruises in the region of the right kidney were established.

After 10 days of treatment, he was transferred to the Department of neurology under the National hospital. During this period, the court managed to make a decision: Akjolov must be detained in the investigatory isolation ward No.1. The suspect didn’t participate in the trial, he couldn’t stand on his feet and was unconscious.

 The beaten colonel from the National hospital was transferred directly from the dropper to the investigatory isolation ward No.1. So, he was deprived of the opportunity to receive medical care. Later, doctors concluded that this was what provoked the development of his mental disease.

From the detention center, Abduvali Akjolov was transferred to the colony No.47. Two months later, in September 2015, he was finally examined by a specialist in forensic psychiatry. The doctor’s opinion was unambiguous: the impact of stress factors in the form of torture, traumatic brain damage on July 3-4, 2015 caused Akjolov the development of combined mental disorder in the form of organic asthenic disorder and psychogenic anxiety-depressive disorder with elements of Ganser syndrome.

With this diagnosis, Akjolov was sent to the Republican mental hospital in the village of Kyzyl-Zhar for compulsory treatment by court order. However, staying in conditions under strict regime didn’t benefit his health.

In an attempt to help, Akjolov’s relatives and lawyer addressed to all possible state and non-state authorities. It wasn’t possible to get a criminal case on torture, as it wasn’t possible for many years to achieve the transfer of a mentally sick relative to milder conditions of stay.

Then the Akjolov’s family prepared a complaint addressed to the Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic Tokon Mamytov.

“In their statement of complaint, they reported that Akjolov went through six forensic psychiatric examinations. All of them recognized the patient as insane. Moreover, the administration of the Republican mental hospital also repeatedly sent petitions to the judicial authorities to change the regime of detention / treatment (transfer) from a strict to an enhanced treatment regimen, but the courts left these petitions unsatisfied for four years,” said Albert Kolopov, the Head of the Ombudsman’s office for observance of human rights by law enforcement agencies and in places of restriction of freedom.

According to him, the applicants claimed that all the expert commissions, and there were six, concluded that Akjolov’s disease was incurable, but at the same time they didn’t exclude the possibility that his condition might improve somewhat over time. In addition, according to the same experts, he has no chance of recovery, and long-term stay in compulsory treatment with a strict regimen will only worsen his health, since the Republican mental hospital doesn’t have the possibility to provide a qualified medical care, except psychiatric.

Having considered this case, the Institute of the Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic sent an appeal to a number of competent state bodies, primarily to the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic, “urgently requesting that as soon as possible consider the possibility of providing access to qualified medical care (for somatic and other diseases) to all patients with mental health disorders, including to a citizen Abduvali Akjolov, whose relatives addressed to the Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic”.

 “As a result, Akjolov had to go through another – the seventh forensic psychiatric examination, after which the Lenin District Court of Bishkek decided to transfer him from the Republican mental hospital in the village of Kyzyl-Zhar to the Republican Psychiatric Hospital in the village of Chym-Korgon. There Akjolov will undergo treatment already under the usual regimen,” Kolopov explained.

For reference: The Republican mental hospital in the village of Kyzyl- Zhar (in Jalal-Abad oblast) is an institution subordinate to the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic. It was founded in 1962. The hospital’s capacity is 325 beds. The hospital’s structure includes the only specialized department No.8 in the Republic, which simultaneously performs the functions of an expert department for experts and compulsory treatment for mentally sick persons who have committed socially dangerous acts.

The Ombudsman’s special report, entitled “The Rights of persons in the Republican Psychiatric Hospital,” published two years ago, shows the results of monitoring the activities of the RPH in the implementation of the rights of people with mental disorders. In this document, the situation in the clinic is called critical, because the conditions of the patients are not consistent with the minimum standards and are degrading to human dignity; sanitary conditions are not met, and the rights of patients and medical personnel to personal safety are not ensured.