Kazakhstan: The Ministry of Internal Affairs denies existence of torture cells

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan stated that the rumors about the existence of a torture facility in the pre-trial detention center in Almaty are not true.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs was prompted to make such a statement by information disseminated on social networks that there is a special room in the basement of the pre-trial detention center LA-155/18 where detainees are tortured.

“On the territory of the institution of the penitentiary system, there is a two-story administrative building and six secure four and five-story buildings, as well as 230 cells for the maintenance of special contingent. There are semi-basement rooms in these high-security buildings, but they are used exclusively for communication systems and heating units,” the press service of the Department noted.

They also noted that the institution is regularly visited by employees of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Commissioner for human rights and members of the public control organization.

“The entrance to the above premises is carried out from the outside of the buildings. Reception of persons entering the institution is carried out on the first floor of the regime building. Reception of all arriving persons in the pre-trial detention center is carried out by medical workers, as well as by the officers on duty of the institution, while video filming is made. The activity of the penitentiary system is aimed at the priority protection of human dignity, safety of life and health, constitutional rights and freedoms of convicts and other persons. To do this, the legislation creates conditions for the resocialization of convicts, the protection of human rights during the execution of sentences and other measures of criminal law, ensuring the security of the individual, society and the state, preventing the commission of crimes in the conditions of execution and serving of sentences,” the Ministry emphasized.

 In addition, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs recalled that dissemination of knowingly false information provides for criminal liability under Article 274 of the Criminal Code, which provides for punishment in the form of fines or imprisonment for a term of one to five years.

It should be noted that rumors about the existence of torture facilities in pre-trial detention centers in Kazakhstan appeared after the mass arrests and detentions of participants in the January riots. Relatives of the detainees report on social networks that police officers use torture against those suspected of participating in the riots, knocking out confessions. At the same time, some of these statements have been confirmed.

So, at the end of January, Nurdilda Oraz, adviser to the minister and official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan, said at a briefing that 7 pre-trial investigations had been launched on 27 reports of torture under Article 146 of the Criminal Code (“Torture”); official investigations were being carried out on 20 more facts.