Kyrgyzstan: Human rights activists are exasperated by conditions of detention of lawyer Toktakunov
“Lawyer Nurbek Toktakunov was arrested on March 25. The authorities did it as if they were detaining a dangerous criminal. Everyone who knows him closely can no doubt tell about his courage, adherence to principles and law-abidingness,” said the activists of the human rights movement “Justice”.
“By his detention, the state bodies revealed their own shortcomings in terms of the implementation of the Cabinet of Ministers’ Decree “On approval of the procedure for the functioning of serving arrest and requirements for the maintenance of persons under arrest”, which was adopted quite recently – on February 7, 2022.
The first thing, that is evident, is that there was no bed in the cell where the lawyer was placed for five days. Although, according to paragraph 15 of the Decree, persons subjected to arrest are placed on metal beds or trestle beds (plank beds), which, with their base, are firmly connected to the floor. And in the cell where the lawyer is kept, there was only a wooden bench along three walls, on which dirty blankets were scattered. Fortunately, then the lawyer’s supporters brought him a folding bed,” human rights activists say.
“There are no windows in the room. Although paragraph 12 of the same document states that the premises must have windows 0.9 m wide and 0.6 m high in the outer walls, and paragraph 14 states that inlet fan is installed in the premises with mechanical stimulation and exhaust ventilation with natural movement.
According to paragraph 39 of the Decree, persons under arrest have the right to receive food and material support in accordance with established standards; have a bed; receive bedding; submit applications and complaints through the manager of the special detention center; read newspapers and magazines; use his/her own clothes according to the season; have a towel no longer than 50 cm and other toiletries, glasses and medicines approved by the healthcare professional.
Arrested persons must be placed on beds. The standard area per person is 2.5 square meters. They are given hot food daily. They are taken out for a walk every day for 2 hours during the daytime,” human rights activists emphasize.
As Nurbek Toktakunov could notice, “there are no conditions of detention in the cell at all, the material and domestic support of the arrested person is zero. There is not even a towel nail, and the towel itself too. Although the budget provides for the necessary toiletries. There is no place to sleep, no electricity – the light comes from the hallway, where the officer on duty sits, and the toilet is outside. The state of the toilet leaves much to be desired. There is also a single washbasin. Food from the prison canteen was brought once a day, but it was impossible to eat humanly… there is no table.”
The lawyer of the human rights organization “Justice” in Jalal-Abad, Nurislam Rayimzhanov, calls the conditions of detention unacceptable, equivalent to torture. He refers to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, where paragraph 4 of Article 56 states that no one may be subjected to torture or other inhuman, cruel or degrading treatment or punishment.
“If a well-known lawyer, who can defend his rights, is kept in such a deplorable cell, what can we say about other detainees whose situation remains without any attention from the public?” the human rights activist asks.
