Kazakhstan: Lawyer was tortured for complaining about police officers

The information that law enforcement officers use physical force against the detainees comes not only from civil activists and public figures, but also from representatives of the legal community.

For example, Adilkhan Bedenbaev, a lawyer from the Bar Association of Kyzylorda region, was severely beaten by local police for being a lawyer. This case was reported by his colleague, a lawyer of the Bar Association of Almaty city Tair Nazkhanov.

According to Nazkhanov, Bedenbaev appealed to the Commission for the Protection of the Professional Rights of Lawyers on the fact of torture being used against him.

“Directly from the detention center, a handwritten statement by Bedenbaev Adilkhan about the terrible beatings in the building of the Police Department of Kyzylorda region was received. He was brought there on suspicion of committing a crime. The police officers knew for certain that Bedenbaev was a lawyer, which, in principle, was the reason for the torture. In the literal sense, by knocking out a confession, the police officers directly told the lawyer that in this way they are punishing him for numerous complaints about the actions of employees that he wrote in the course of advocacy, protecting the rights of citizens,” Nazkhanov, who is the Chairman of the above Commission, said.

At the same time, he emphasized that appealing against illegal actions and decisions of employees of the pre-trial investigation bodies and the Prosecutor’s Office is the right of a lawyer and a protection method provided for by the Code of Criminal Procedure and other laws of Kazakhstan.

“Revenge for numerous complaints led to the fact that the lawyer received a lot of bruises and abrasions all over his body. The conclusion of the forensic medical examination established the fact of causing slight harm to the health of the lawyer. Meanwhile, in accordance with Article 146 of the Criminal Code, torture is the deliberate infliction of physical and (or) mental suffering committed by an official in order to obtain information or confession from the person being tortured or another person or to punish him for the act that he committed, as well as intimidate or force him to do something. In this connection, I have a question why the police officers guilty of illegal actions have not yet been punished and are not in prison,” Nazkhanov asks.

Meanwhile, according to #IHaveAChoice #ActivistsNotExtremists group, Adilkhan Bedenbaev was detained on January 11. The reason for the detention was his alleged participation in the January protests and rallies in Kyzylorda.

However, according to the lawyer’s relatives, Adilkhan Bedenbaev didn’t participate in the rallies and was at home at that time.

“During the days of the protests, his car was stolen, as he lives with his family near the place where the protests took place. He wrote a statement to the police. The police told him that the car was in the impound lot and that he could pick it up, but on January 11 he was detained. It’s also reported that a map and drawings of the police building were ‘found’ in the glove compartment of his car. It’s likely that a politically motivated criminal case has been opened (or will be opened) against him. Adilkhan Bedenbaev says that these are not his maps and drawings; they could have been planted when the car was stolen. His wife connects the political persecution of her husband with the fact that, being a lawyer, he criticized the police and the Prosecutor’s Office of the city of Kyzylorda, and now the authorities are politically persecuting him under the guise of an anti-terrorist operation,” #ActivistsNotExtremists reported in #IHaveAChoice.

As it became known to the ACCA, Bedenbaev is charged with preparing to seize the police building.

By the way, on YouTube there is an interview with Zhanna Bedenbaeva (Bedenbaev’s wife) in which she tells how the police bullied her husband. Judging by these data, the lawyer from Kyzylorda had a hard time after his arrest: he was beaten with iron bars and tortured with a stun gun. In addition, psychological torture also took place: the lawyer was threatened that if he refused to sign false testimony with a confession of guilt, then his 15-year-old son would be sent to prison.

By the way, Zhanna Bedenbaeva was also under pressure so that she wouldn’t make a fuss and didn’t complain anywhere. However, this didn’t stop the wife of the lawyer. She met with the Ombudsman in Kazakhstan Elvira Azimova and lawyer Ayman ​​Umarova, who heads a public commission investigating the January events. But there are no results from these meetings.

ACCA has repeatedly reported cases of torture against participants in the January riots in Kazakhstan. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic denies the facts of torture.