Kazakhstan: convict reports about extortion and torture
Askhat Turlybekov, a 31-year-old resident of Taraz, an entrepreneur and public figure, who was sentenced to six years in prison in March 2021, recorded a video message in which he spoke about torture and extortion by police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, and judges.
“I have been in prison for more than one year and four months,” Turlybekov says on the video. “All this time, I have seen horrific and egregious facts of human rights violations. These are torture, ill-treatment, violence, bans on sending letters from prison, corruption and collusion between the police, prosecutors and judges, who are in illegal clan relations, aimed at extorting money from clearly innocent citizens. I have written confessions of witnesses of these iniquities. The widespread abuse of power, when arrested persons are forced to transfer money to criminals in uniform. A real scheme of extortion from the arrested has been organized.
According to Turlybekov, he is not guilty of what he was convicted of. As he explained in a written statement attached to the video message, it all started when he put his car up for sale. People unknown to him responded to the ad. They asked to sell the car in installments. Then they arrived in a Lexus and offered to take this car as a surcharge for the missing amount. After examining the Lexus, Turylbekov refused to accept it. And two months later, the police came to him and accused him of stealing this Lexus. In addition, according to the convict, during the search, the police stole three thousand dollars from him.
“The prosecutor demanded a million ($ 2.3 thousand) so that he would not hang on me a crime that I did not commit. Then the torture began. In the corridor, where there are no cameras, they “bent” me and said: “Now we will put a truncheon in your a… .” I know that they can do this and I was forced to borrow money from friends” Turlybekov describes what happened to him.
The lawyer who was supposed to defend him took $ 6,000 from Turlybekov’s relatives. The lawyer told him that the police and the prosecutor’s office “cannot let the case down because this is a system.”
In turn, the prosecutor and the investigator forced him to confess to the crime before the trial begins, promising a suspended sentence, otherwise, he will be sent to jail.
“I have only one hope for you, those who are watching this video. It’s just lawlessness that is happening in the prosecutor’s office, prisons and courts. I appeal to the guarantor of the Constitution – President Tokayev, ”Turlybekov says in the video.
