Kazakhstan: Torture is used against women, children and old people
375 criminal cases on torture were under investigation in March. Such data are provided in the consolidated report on registered criminal offenses of the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records under the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan.
Out of 375 crimes under the article “Torture”, 343 were registered in the reporting period, and 308 of them were committed in the first three months of this year, including 15 cases of torture were registered in March. At the same time, 124 criminal cases were terminated due to various circumstances. In another 10 cases, the term of the criminal investigation has expired. And the number of unsolved criminal offenses, terminated due to the expiration of the statute of limitations without a person, was 22 cases. At the same time, proceedings were completed only on two crimes.
As for the victims, according to the Committee, 314 crimes of this kind were committed against individuals, including 2 pensioners, 5 women, 5 minors and 14 students of lyceums, colleges, and universities.
It’s also noteworthy that the cases of only four defendants were sent on charges of torture. All four received criminal terms.
It’s worth recalling that on April 13, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree “On further measures of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of human rights”, including the prevention of torture and cruel treatment, as well as measures to further improve legislation in terms of the limits and grounds for the use of physical force and special means and development of proposals on the methodology for investigating cases of torture in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol.
