Kazakhstan: human rights defender lost court in a lawsuit filed by the correctional institution

Well-known Kazakhstani human rights activist Elena Semenova, who is involved in the protection of prisoners’ rights, lost the trial on the claim of administration of the colony AK-159/25, located in Zhezkazgan.

In March of this year, Semenova published a post on social networks in which she reported on the abuse of prisoners in AK-159/25 facility. According to Semenova, convicts Kureish Daurbekov, Khozha Aliyev and Rafik Atlukhanov called her. Daurbekov said that the administration of the colony deliberately provokes him to violate the regime. Rafik Atlukhanov said that he tried to commit suicide and hanged himself in front of the colonel, but the doctors of the institution saved him.

“I will hang myself every two hours. What else is left for me? I wrote a posthumous letter that I was tired of enduring arbitrariness, lawlessness on the part of the staff of the institution. I have posthumous letters in my pockets, so that you know. They come in, provoke me, and when they enrage me, they turn on the recorder, and I remain guilty… Let them send me to the madhouse,” Atlukhanov complained during a telephone conversation.

It was this post that became the reason for filing a lawsuit against the human rights defender by the administration of the colony.

According to the Kazakhstan Bureau for Human Rights, the suit was considered in the court of the city of Pavlodar, in the very same court where on May 12 the decision was made not in favor of Semenova on the claim of another correctional institution – AK 159/6.

Accordingly, it would be silly to hope that the claim from the colony AK-159/25 will be considered in favor of the human rights activist.

The plaintiff demanded that Semenova refute the information published in her post.

Semenova provided the court with an audio recording of her conversation with the convicts as evidence and explained that her post was an appeal to the authorized bodies so that they would conduct an inspection in the institution and take the necessary measures. In addition, the human rights activist petitioned to involve convicted Kureish Daurbekov as a third party in this claim. However, the court rejected this petition, but summoned Daurbekov, Atlukhanov and Aliyev as witnesses.

The convicted Daurbekov told the court that after Semenova’s post, the prosecutor Kenzhetayev arrived at the colony and instructed the employees of the institution not to allow the prisoners to contact Semenova. His words were confirmed by the convicted Aliyev. Rafik Atlukhanov, in turn, also said that all the information contained in Semenova’s post is true and that he was also forbidden to call the human rights activist.

Despite the testimony of the witness, the judge Isenova made the decision – to satisfy the claims of the colony AK-159/25 in full.

“For more than a year now, the well-known human rights activist Elena Semenova has been subjected to a stream of lawsuits from the administration and employees of closed institutions, guilty of torture and violating the rights of prisoners. The courts, as a rule, unconditionally believe the plaintiffs’ word,” the Kazakhstan Human Rights Bureau commented on this decision.