In Kyrgyzstan, human rights activists ask the Parliament to speed up consideration of amnesty

On April 1, 2020, the Coalition sent a letter to the deputies of the Kyrgyz Parliament asking them to speed up the consideration of the draft law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On amnesty in connection with the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War”.

 The Coalition against Torture in Kyrgyzstan against the background of the threat of an epidemic and the introduction of widespread quarantine measures in the republic, asks to pay attention to the situation to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the closed institution system.

It should be noted that on March 12 of the current year, the deputies, Natalya Nikitenko and Iskhak Masaliev, submitted for public discussion a draft law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On amnesty in connection with the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War”.

The draft law proposes to exempt from criminal liability and punishment in the form of imprisonment, as well as from punishments not related to deprivation of liberty:

• women and minors first convicted for up to 5 years;
• men over 60 years old, as well as women over 55 years old;
• persons with disabilities of groups I and II;
• persons who are the sole breadwinner in the family, having at least two minor children or children with disabilities of groups I and II;
• persons who have committed less serious crimes for the first time;
• pregnant women;
• women with many children;
• women and minors whose unexpired part of the sentence is less than one year on the day this law enters into force.

 “In this regard, the Coalition against Torture in Kyrgyzstan, supporting the amnesty initiative, asks deputies to take urgent measures and speed up the consideration of this draft law in the Parliament,” the ACCA was informed in the Coalition.

The Coalition notes that prisoners in prisons, pre-trial detention centers and temporary detention centers, due to specific circumstances, are a vulnerable group of people in a situation with a coronavirus pandemic.

Moreover, according to them, there is no plan to combat the spread of the epidemic in prisons, as well as personal protective equipment and hygiene.

“Any case of the spread of infection will inevitably lead to complete infection of both prisoners and employees of the penal system with a high risk to their lives. This is a major health problem for prisoners and staff,” the Coalition against Torture said.

“There are about 10 thousand people in the prison system of Kyrgyzstan. They are kept in colonies and pre-trial detention centers. In the case of infection entering the institution through staff, lawyers or newly arrived prisoners, the consequences can be catastrophic,” experts say.

“To consider that prisons are a completely closed environment, that does not interact with society, is not true, but in a pandemic situation, it is dangerous. To reduce stress, you need to reduce the number of prisoners. There are no other ways. The Parliament must immediately take exceptional measures to give the widest possible amnesty for prisoners,” the Coalition against Torture emphasized.

A number of states around the world [Australia, Germany, Jordan, Iran, Ireland, Canada, Sudan, the USA and others] have already taken steps to unload prisons in these circumstances, declaring or starting to prepare an amnesty, and also resorting to a suspension of sentence, temporary release, or increasing number of decisions on parole. In some cases, the number of early releases reaches tens of thousands.