Kyrgyzstan: the prisoner was beaten for being late and locked up for a month in a punishment cell

On August 6, Director of the National Center for the Prevention of Torture of the Kyrgyz Republic Bakyt Rysbekov and the head of the Department of preventive visits of the National Center for the Prevention of Torture of the Kyrgyz Republic Bakyt Kasymkulov visited colony No. 16, located near the village of Belovodskoe (Chui region), as well as the correctional institution No. 47 of the State Penitentiary Service.

As a result of preventive visits to closed institutions, facts of cruel treatment and violation of the rights of convicts were revealed.

During the visit of specialists to correctional institution No. 47 in the village of Belovodskoe, a man, who was sentenced to 9 years by the Oktyabrsky District Court of Bishkek under Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, wrote a complaint. In his statement, he indicated that on August 5, 2021, he overslept and was a little late for the morning check. After that, 5-6 guards dragged him by force into the punishment cell, where they began to beat him: kicked him on the head, beat him with their fists. The prisoner was registered as a malicious violator and put in a punishment cell for 1 month. In protest, he cut his chest. The man asks to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In correctional institution No. 47, representatives of the National Center for the Prevention of Torture of the Kyrgyz Republic held a conversation with another convict. The City Court of Tokmok sentenced him for robbery to 12.5 years. The man is serving his sentence in correctional institution No. 31 in the village of Moldovanovka, where on August 5, after an evening check, an accident happened to him.

While trying to glaze the window, the prisoner was injured; a fragment of broken glass cut his chest. A medical team, that arrived at the call, took him, accompanied by a convoy, to the National Surgical Center, but the doctors refused to admit the victim, citing the fact that he was a convict.

“The ambulance doctors drew up an act and took the patient to the Bishkek Research Center of traumatology and orthopedics, where he received medical assistance; a cut was sewn up. After that, the man was taken to correctional institution No. 47. According to the doctor of the colony, the wound is not deep and the state of the prisoner is satisfactory. He is provided with all the necessary medical assistance,” the National Center for the Prevention of Torture of the Kyrgyz Republic noted.

According to the specialists of the National Center, the refusal to provide medical assistance is unacceptable. Without exception, all citizens, upon urgent admission to any medical institution of the republic, have the right to receive timely qualified medical services.

At the same time, it’s noted that the refusal to provide medical care on the basis that the patient is a convict is considered discrimination based on social status. On this fact, the National Center for the Prevention of Torture of the Kyrgyz Republic will send an appeal to the appropriate structures.