Kazakhstan: four police officers convicted of torturing a pedophile

In Balkhash, the trial of four former members of the criminal police accused of torturing a suspect in the rape of a seven-year-old girl to extract confessions from him is over.

In February 2020, a high-profile trial was held in the Karaganda region in the case of 44-year old Amanzhol Alibayev, accused of raping a seven-year-old girl.

As established by the investigation, the incident took place in October 2019. A resident of the Karaganda region came to Balkhash for a medical examination. There she met Alibaev and stayed with him with her daughter for several days. When the woman was out, the man abused the girl. On the same day, he was detained and placed in a pre-trial detention center.

However, two days later, the rape suspect ended up in intensive care, where he was taken immediately after interrogation. The man had a broken leg, nose, ribs, and a torn rectum. According to the victim, he was beaten by four policemen and not only beaten but also raped with a police truncheon, trying to force him to confess. At the trial, the accused denied his guilt, claiming that the police forced him to make this confession.

However, the court in the Alibayev case found his guilt fully proven and sentenced him to 19 years in prison. The appellate instance upheld the verdict.

Meanwhile, based on the convict’s complaint, a criminal case was initiated against the police officers under Part 3 of Article 146 of the Criminal Code – Torture with causing grievous bodily harm.

The head of the Balkhash criminal police department, Lieutenant Colonel Maksat Makhmetov, and employees of this department, Darkhan Isabekov, Azamat Kuanyshbekov, and Maksat Igenov, were in the dock.

The torture trial began in June this year. The police officers did not admit their guilt at the trial. According to them, there was no point in extorting testimony from Alibayev since he was caught by the girl’s mother at the scene of the crime, and witnesses in the rape case showed that the girl was bleeding between her legs by the time the police arrived. As for the injuries received by Alibaev, the defendants and their lawyers explained to the court that the damage to the rectum was caused by a fall at the time of the arrest.

Meanwhile, Maksat Makhmetov’s father, an honorary veteran of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Toleuzada Makhmetov, recorded a video message to the President of the country and the Prosecutor General, in which he stated that the pedophile had slandered the employees of the criminal police. By the way, Alibaev himself said at the trial that he made a deal with the prosecutor’s office, who promised him to jail the police officers if he confesses his guilt in committing violent acts against a seven-year-old girl.

Despite all this, the judge of the Balkhash City Court, Bakhtiyar Akanov, found the police officers guilty of the crime they were charged with and sentenced the defendants Makhmetov and Igenov to 10 years in prison. Isabekov and Kuanyshbekov got nine years in prison in a general regime colony with deprivation of the right to hold positions in public service for three years.

After clarifying the verdict, the Balkhash City Court noted the following: “On October 30, 2019, Makhmetov, Igenov, Kuanyshbekov, and Isabekov, being officers of the criminal police department of the city of Balkhash, with particular cruelty, as well as torture for the victim, with the use of a truncheon and strangulation with the use of a gas mask, caused serious harm to the health of the victim to receive his confession of a crime. As a result of these actions, the victim suffered bodily injuries in the form of fractures of the nose, rib and medial ankle, rupture of the sigmoid colon and multiple hematomas. Subsequently, the victim was urgently operated on in the Central Hospital of the city of Balkhash. ​​The guilt of the defendants is confirmed by the testimony of the victim, protocols of investigative actions, expert opinions and other evidence.”

It should also be noted that in August 2021, a civil claim from Alibayev to the police was considered, in which he demanded to recover material damage of $ 26.8 thousand and compensation for moral damage of $ 714.2 thousand. The court ruled to satisfy the requirements of the plaintiff.