In Kyrgyzstan, citizens afraid to report torture

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23.12.2019 ACCA

The number of complaints of torture has decreased in Kyrgyzstan. This is not due to a recovery in the situation in this area, but to the distrust of the victims in the existing mechanisms of legal protection and fear of subsequent repressions. This conclusion was reached by the authors of the report for the UN pre-session for the Universal Periodic Review.

“Positive changes in this area are not enough. Torture remains a serious violation of human rights and the practice of torture in law enforcement is still ongoing. Impunity for torture is the norm. This is evidenced by the reports of the Ombudsman, the National Center for prevention of torture (NCPT) and the study of the Coalition against torture,” the document says on the website of the Coalition against torture in Kyrgyzstan.

Human rights activists have noted an increase in the number of criminal cases involving torture and cruel treatment, but few are held accountable for these crimes. This suggests that one of the serious reasons preventing the eradication of torture is the impunity of those involved in torture.

“A serious obstacle to the eradication of torture is the avoidance of adequate investigations and their ineffectiveness. Thus, a comparative analysis of the results of the examination of applications received from the victims of torture by the Prosecutor’s office shows an increase in refusals to institute criminal proceedings for the use of torture, against the background of a declining number of allegations, which demonstrates the established tendency of an ineffective investigation of such crimes. In addition, these indicators raise doubt concerning an impartial approach in registering and investigating complaints of victims of torture and cruel treatment,” the report says.

The existing practice of the re-qualification of torture and cruel treatment in a mitigated form [abuse of power (article 321 of the Criminal Code “Excess of powers”)] gives the impression that there is no torture in the country. As a result of this selective approach to the definition of torture, the state and society do not have exact quantitative data on torture and cruel, degrading treatment. The lack of statistics on torture and cruel treatment makes it impossible to conduct analysis, adequately assess the situation and plan measures to prevent these crimes.

In 2018, a study was conducted jointly by the Coalition against torture and the National Center for prevention of torture to determine the index of torture and cruel treatment of persons held in pre-trial detention centers during 2017. As a result, it turned out that every third of 679 respondents in the study (30.2%) was subjected to unjustified physical abuse or violence, which undoubtedly shows the prevalence of torture in Kyrgyzstan.

At the same time, according to the statistics of the General Prosecutor’s office, the country has a tendency to reduce the number of complaints of torture. For the period of 2016-2018, the Prosecutor General’s office registered 1140 statements of torture and cruel treatment: 435 in 2016, 418 in 2017 and 287 during 9 months of 2018.

The number of complaints of torture has also decreased in human rights practice. The Coalition against torture notes, that in 2016 it received 59 complaints of torture, in 2017 – 43, and in 2018 – 38 complaints.

“As a rule, such a tendency can be either the result of effective actions by all entities involved in the fight against torture, including human rights defenders, or may indicate a lack of confidence on their part in the existing mechanisms of legal protection and fear of subsequent repressions. However, the case study of the Coalition against torture shows that most victims of torture still do not believe that a quick, impartial and complete investigation will be carried out on their complaints, and the alleged perpetrators will be held accountable,” the authors of the document write.

Impunity in Kyrgyzstan for torture and cruel treatment has worsened by the lack of effective complaint mechanisms, independent investigations, monitoring, or other similar protective measures. The lack of a quick, impartial and complete investigation into allegations of torture and cruel treatment means that such criminal acts go unpunished.

As follows from the official statistics of the General Prosecutor’s office of the Kyrgyz Republic, in nine of ten cases, a decision is made to refuse in initiating a criminal case. So in 2016, 400 refusals were registered (91.9%), in 2017 – 383 (91.6%), in 2018 – 350 (92.8%).

According to the NCPT, for all the years of its activity, prosecution authorities have opened criminal cases only on 28 reports of torture and cruel treatment, which makes up 3% of the total number of messages.

“One of the key reasons for impunity is the existing system for investigating torture. The lack of comprehensive, effective, efficient and impartial investigative mechanisms remains the main obstacle faced by torture victims in access to justice. The lack of an effective investigation mechanism leads to a lack of adequate punishment and, accordingly, compensation,” the report says.

The principle of independence and effectiveness also means that the findings of an investigation cannot be based solely on the testimonies and explanations of potentially guilty persons. However, most criminal convictions are based mainly on confessions that were given during the investigation. In addition, courts encourage this practice by overly relying on confessions in assessing evidence.

In nine of ten cases, torture is used by operational police officers in order to force people to give a confession of crimes, thereby “solving the crime”.

The percentage of criminal cases solved is an important indicator of the success of the employee and the department, where he works. In the absolute majority of cases (94%), torture is used by operative officers of the Internal Affairs bodies in order to obtain a confession.

If the defendant claims during the trial that the confession was obtained under torture, the courts either ignore such statements or conduct a superficial investigation simply by interviewing police officers in courtroom. Such an established judicial practice makes it difficult to combat torture and impunity.

According to the case study of the Coalition against torture, the most common torture methods are:

strangulation with a plastic bag or gas mask;
punches and drubs;
the use of electric shock;
rectal introduction of foreign objects or threat of rape.

The crime “torture”, as a rule, is committed in the absence of witnesses, therefore, in the absence of other objective evidence, medical evidence plays an important role, which must be timely and qualitatively recorded by medical personnel during the examination of the victim. Today, the lack of a proper system for documenting the consequences of torture and cruel treatment, and unified standards for conducting a medical examination of victims of torture, complicate the process of investigating and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

“If we talk about statistics, the number of tortures is reduced. However, is it really going down? Torture is very difficult to prove. Over 16 years, only 3-4 court decisions were made in Kyrgyzstan on victims of torture. This has led torture victims to believe that the perpetrators will be punished. So, the statistics may well reflect the fact that people simply don’t apply,” MP Evgenia Strokova commented on the results of the report.

According to the parliamentarian, the situation will change only if the courts begin to make lawful decisions in such cases, focus on the sentencing only on the law, and not personal opinion.

“I don’t believe that everyone in the authorities works the same way. There are professionals in their field. Another thing is that sometimes a person “burns out”. I intend to promote the initiative of introducing psychiatric testing in authorities and courts on the suitability to work in this system. Sometimes people with complexes and an unstable state of mind fill these positions. So, they express aggression against people who are in obviously unfavorable conditions,” Strokova concluded.