Kyrgyzstan: a young guy was illegally kept in a detention center for more than a month

On April 14 of this year, a resident of Bakai-Ata district, whose son was kept in the temporary detention facility of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of Talas region, applied to the office of the Ombudsman of Kyrgyzstan. The man complained that his son had been in custody for over a month without any reason.

In particular, it followed from his statement that his son had been in the temporary detention center since March 13, where he had been placed for a fight. During the period of detention, the investigator conducted a confrontation with the victim. The latter, in turn, didn’t recognize the detainee as a criminal. Despite this, the investigator of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate didn’t release the young man. Moreover, he began to deliberately delay the investigation.

“A representative of the Prosecutor’s Office and operational officers of the Regional Department of Internal Affairs came to the temporary detention center. They demanded that I take the blame. They threatened me that if I refuse, they will put me away for a longer period anyway,” was said in the appeal.

To clarify the situation on the facts indicated in the appeal, the Ombudsman’s office in Talas region sent a request to the regional prosecutor Gulmira Kashkarova with a request to carefully check the applicant’s information.

“Based on this message, an additional check was carried out. According to its results, no confirmation of threats to the detainee from the officials was revealed. At the same time, during the investigation, it was established that there is no corpus delicti in the actions of the accused. As a result, the criminal prosecution against him was terminated, and he was released from custody on April 21 of this year,” was written in a response letter to the request of the Ombudsman’s office in Talas region.

In a comment to ACCA, the head of the Ombudsman’s office, Askat Azarbekov, said that the work of the office is not over. An order was given to check the fact of keeping an innocent guy in the temporary detention facility, as well as to double-check the message about pressure on him by the law enforcement officers.