Kazakhstan: court acquitted police officers, who were accused of torture

In view of the lack of evidence of guilt, the court of Ordabasy district of Turkestan region acquitted four employees of the criminal police, who were accused of torturing two residents of the district

In early February, four policemen (Captain Azamat Bugenaliev, Captain Ruslan Usenov, Lieutenant Zhalgaskhan Tolybay and their boss – the head of the Criminal Police Department of Ordabasy district, Nurgeldy Ziyayev) ended up in the dock. All four of them were charged under part 2 of Article 146 of the Criminal Code “Torture committed by a group of persons, causing moderate harm to health”.

According to the prosecution, in March 2020, a resident of the village of Karakum, a certain B. Zhakyp, turned to the Criminal Police Department of Ordabasy district with a statement that his sheep had been stolen.

Nurgeldy Ziyaev, together with Zhalgaskhan Tolybay, took a certain S. Beisenov, suspected of stealing livestock, to the steppe in an official car. There, Beisenov was beaten by Zhalgaskhan Tolybay, demanding that the guy confess to committing theft. However, Beisenov didn’t confess. Then the policemen took the suspect to the local police station in the village of Badam, where Azamat Bugenaliev and Ruslan Usenov were waiting for them. The torture continued there. They wrapped Beisenov’s arms and legs with scotch tape and began to strike with some iron thing on his ribs and on his head.

However, the police failed to obtain confession that would increase the crime detection rate of the Department. Beisenov continued to deny his guilt. Then the operatives put a gas-mask on his head and periodically pinched the hose, depriving Beisenov of the opportunity to breathe. During torture, Beisenov tried to resist, then Bugenaliev broke his right wrist. Unable to withstand the torture, Beissenov confessed to stealing livestock, which he didn’t commit.

Meanwhile, the defendants didn’t admit their guilt at the trial and told the court that indeed, after they began to investigate the case of the theft of sheep, they questioned Beisenov, who said that he had seen the missing sheep near his stable. The policemen took him by car to the steppe, so that he showed exactly where he saw the livestock. They said that there was no torture or beatings of Beisenov, and that he slandered them. The special prosecutor, who acted as the prosecutor at the trial, couldn’t provide sufficient evidence of the guilt of the policemen.

Having studied all the materials of the case and the testimony of witnesses, the judge of the District Court of Ordabasy A. Kalykul fully acquitted the four policemen in view of the lack of proof of their guilt.