Kyrgyzstan: human rights defenders seek investigation of 9-year-old torture

The public association “Human rights movement Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan” is trying to get an investigation into the fact of torture of a man sentenced to 25 years in prison for rape.

Sh.Kh. comes from Kara-Suu district of Osh region. Many years ago, he left to work in Chui region. There he met and began to live with a woman. They lived in her house with her two brothers. Her daughter lived with her grandmother. The family had regular quarrels and scandals. The man said that the family members abused alcohol, and the minor daughter had the lifestyle of an adult. The man said that he didn’t drink alcohol, he kept a Muslim fast.

Shortly before the arrest, Sh.Kh. has already decided to part with his partner and go to his son in Russia. However, the man failed to implement this idea. In July 2012, he was arrested. He received a statement from his partner, who accused him of physical and sexual violence, and threats of murder.

During the arrest, the officers of the District Department of Internal Affairs of Belovodsk (Moskovsky district) beat the man in order to obtain confessions to the crime.

According to him, he endured the beatings as much as he could. But by the end of the day, his strength was already running out, and he asked for some time to catch his breath. The officers left him alone and went to the next office. He heard them discussing “hanging” other cases on him, since he was already “ready”. In despair, the man jumped out of the third floor window, lost consciousness.

“I don’t remember what happened next. I didn’t sign any documents, at least in a conscious state,” Sh.Kh. said to the human rights defenders.

Because of the beatings and the fall, the right side (arm, leg, shoulder) was blue, he couldn’t move them, he couldn’t walk. So, for about 20 days, he wasn’t taken to the pre-trial detention center, as he wouldn’t have been accepted in such a state. The examination of 2012 indicated numerous abrasions on the right forearm, torso, left arm, causing slight harm to health.

Then, despite the conclusions of the medical examination, the competent authorities refused to open a criminal case on the fact of torture under the pretext that Sh.Kh. was allegedly injured while trying to escape from the police through a window of the third floor.

In court, the man was provided with a lawyer from the state, who during the hearing asked the court to acquit him, since there was no evidence of his guilt. At the trial, the prosecutor asked for 20 years in prison, but the judge passed an even harsher sentence – 25 years in prison with serving a sentence in a maximum security colony. Sh.Kh. didn’t appeal against the verdict.

In 2014, an amnesty law was applied to him and his sentence was reduced by one fifth. At the end of March 2019, the court of Moskovsky district (Chui region) considered the convict’s application for a revision of his sentence due to new circumstances in connection with the entry into force of the new criminal legislation in 2019.

The court concluded that the new law softens the appointed punishment and improves his position. The court decided to reduce the term of the convicted person from 25 years to 20 years in prison. Taking into account all the changes, the rest of the sentence is approximately another 7 years.

“While serving his sentence, convict Sh.Kh. has no penalties, has 7 incentives,” says the document of the State Penitentiary Service.

Returning to the fact of the use of torture and cruel treatment in 2012, during the investigation and after its completion, he didn’t apply to the Prosecutor’s Office with a statement about the protection of his rights. He explained this by the fact that due to injuries he couldn’t write. The study of the case materials led to doubts, since the signatures have certain differences in the acknowledgment documents.

In November 2020, the lawyer of Bir Duino Khusanbai Saliev wrote a statement to the Prosecutor’s Office of Moskovsky district (Chui region) on the fact of the use of torture in 2012. The Prosecutor’s Office overturned a previous refusal to open a criminal investigation into the incident. The material was registered in the Automated information system “Unified Register of crimes and misdemeanors”. The pre-trial proceedings were sent to the Prosecutor’s Office of Chui region to determine the jurisdiction. Now, it’s under the control of the State Committee for National Security in Chui region.

“We also sent a petition to the investigator to conduct an investigative experiment. We believe that those registered with Sh.Kh. injuries are not typical for falls from a height. At the moment, the investigator has refused to cond/wpowever, we will appeal this,” Khusanbai Saliev told ACCA.