Kazakhstan: Police officers acquitted of torture charges will be returned to prison
The Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases under the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan abolished the acquittal of the Regional court of Aktobe against four police officers convicted of torture in September last year.
Recall, as ACCA previously reported, on January 18, 2019, the resident of Aktobe, Ruslan Kulmukhambetov, was arrested for 8 days for disorderly conduct and disobedience to the police officers. On January 21, the doctor examined the arrested man. According to his testimony, Kulmukhambetov was safe and sound. On January 24, in one of the city hotels, two bags with smoothbore guns were stolen. Police officers demanded that Kulmukhambetov take the blame upon himself. However, he did not agree. On January 25, the man was released from the special detention center, but was not allowed to go home. He was taken to a police station, whose jurisdiction was the hotel, where the theft took place. There he was interrogated under torture behind locked doors.
As follows from the case file, the police torture imagination knew no limits. Kulmukhambetov was put on a plastic bag over his head. From time to time he was allowed to breathe air, asking the same question, “Will you take the blame for stealing guns and four other thefts?” Having received another refusal, the police officers committed sexual abuse of him. The whole process was recorded on video. The torturers threatened their victim that this video would get on the network if he did not fulfill their requirements. So, Kulmukhambetov took the blame for these thefts.
On September 9, 2019, the court of Aktobe found sufficient evidence of the guilt of the police officers: the deputy head of the police department No.4 of Almaty region of Aktobe, Ruslan Yesanov, and three detectives (captain Marat Temirgaliev, senior lieutenant Dastan Khodzhibaev and lieutenant Asylbek Talasbaev. All four were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment: Ruslan Yesanov and Marat Temirgaliev to five years in prison with the deprivation of the right to hold positions in law enforcement agencies for a term of three years. Asylbek Talasbaev and Dastan Khodzhibaev received four years in prison. They were also forbidden to hold law enforcement positions for three years. The court also ordered the defendants to recover a moral damage in favor of Kulmukhambetov in the amount of $1300.
However, the police officers did not agree with the verdict and filed an appeal. On October 28, the board of appeals of the Regional court of Aktobe fully acquitted four convicted men. As noted at the court, the examinations did not confirm Kulmukhambetov’s testimony that he was beaten and tortured. In addition, the trial court did not take into account that the testimonies of the witnesses were testimonies of persons interested in the case and, moreover, they were not eyewitnesses to torture, and in their testimonies relied only on the words of the victim.
However, on February 18, the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases under the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan abolished the acquittal of the appeal board of the Regional court of Aktobe and upheld the first-instance verdict.
