Kyrgyzstan: torture victim seeks justice in court
A resident of Kadamzhay district seeks a resumption of the criminal case on the fact of torture. After the refusal in the district court, he filed a complaint with the court of second instance.
The 36-year-old resident of Kadamzhay district was sentenced to 7 years on charges of theft. During the detention, he was subjected to torture and cruel treatment.
“On December 12, 2018, I was summoned to the district police department of Kadamzhay, where they began to beat me during interrogation, demanding confession. They punched me in the face and stomach, kicked me, put a bag on my head 6 times, and blocked the air. Unable to stand it, I was forced to sign the documents,” the convict said.
According to him, the torture lasted all night. He also said that all this time his hand was handcuffed and hanged up. In the testimony protocol during a search of his house, witnesses pointed to bruises on the detainee’s face.
The fact that the man was tortured became known after an employee of the National Center for the prevention of torture and cruel treatment conducted a conversation with the victim on December 18, 2018, during the monitoring of closed institutions. He recorded traces of beatings on his mobile phone’s camera and, together with the victim’s statement, sent it to the Prosecutor’s office of Batken oblast.
The fact of the use of torture was also confirmed in the General Directorate for the execution of sentences No.41 (former pre-trial detention center No.5).
Despite the presented evidence, on December 31, the district Prosecutor’s office refused to institute criminal proceedings on the fact of unlawful detention and torture of a resident of Kadamzhay district.
Disagreeing with the court decision, the victim filed a complaint with the district court. At the end of November, the Kadamzhay district court suspended the trial of the lawyer’s complaint. The court referred to the fact that during the investigation in the main case (in theft), the defendant did not report torture, and his lawyer filed a complaint after the deadline for appealing the refusal of the district Prosecutor’s office.
“In early December, an appeal was filed with a court of second instance. The document says that it is necessary to cancel the decision of the district investigating judge, to declare illegal the district Prosecutor’s refusal to institute criminal proceedings on the fact of unlawful detention and torture, and also refer the case to the Prosecutor’s office for pre-trial proceedings,” said the human rights movement “One World”.
