Lawyer: the case of Temirov Live’s journalists is a reason to change the drug policy in the Kyrgyz Republic

Lawyer and member of the Coalition against Torture in Kyrgyzstan Arsen Ambaryan analyzed the incident with journalists of the Kyrgyz YouTube channel Temirov Live especially for ACCA in terms of the shortcomings of the anti-drug legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and chances

In 2021, Ambaryan conducted an analysis of some sentences of the courts of the Kyrgyz Republic concerning drug cases for 2019-2020.

“Analysis of sentences testifies to the systemic nature of many problems associated with the implementation of drug policy. First of all, the problem is that a person, who finds himself in the situation of Bolot Temirov (ed.: during the arrest, which took place right in the editorial office, the security officers planted drugs on Temirov), has no chance to defend himself against the arbitrariness of the police, since there are no effective mechanisms for that,” says the lawyer.

According to him, the incident with the journalist showed that in Kyrgyzstan any person, who walks down the street, works in an office or stays at home, can be planted with drugs, and then accused of manufacturing, storing, or selling them. Punishment under these articles is five or more years in prison.

“It was surprising to me that although activists and Temirov’s colleagues showed corporate solidarity in seeking the release of the journalist, they didn’t question the very fact that drugs were found on him. Society, alas, also didn’t pay attention to the problem of planting drugs,” states Arsen Ambaryan.

He emphasizes that planting drugs is an established practice. Moreover, police officers don’t even think about the absurdity of the accusation in some cases.

“They work according to the scheme: to detect drugs and, if there is no evidence of their use, accuse a person of preparing them for sale. The security forces of the Kyrgyz Republic began to implement the practice of planting drugs in 2006. Then, according to this scheme, MP Omurbek Tekebayev (ed.: now ex-deputy, leader of the party “Ata Meken [“Fatherland”]) was accused. This practice works flawlessly even now,” the expert notes.

The lawyer states that the analysis of sentences in drug cases showed that the verdicts on them were accepted despite the extremely low volume and quality of evidence.

“What evidence is needed to convict a person in a situation similar to the one that happened with Temirov? Protocol of a personal search and conclusion of the examination, and that’s it. The rest of the evidence: the testimony of two operative police officers who claimed that “a prohibited substance with a specific smell was found in the back pocket of the trousers during a personal search of the detainee” is secondary. And depending on the quantity and type of substance, a person can be sentenced to a term of five to fifteen years in prison,” says Ambaryan.

He points out that there were also procedural violations in the case of Bolot Temirov. The journalist was restricted for 24 hours as a suspect, interrogated as a witness, and the court recognized the detention of the witness as legal.

“The courts of the Kyrgyz Republic don’t protect people; the percentage of acquittals in drug cases tends to zero. The court in fact approves the indictment. Statements of the defense about planting drugs, the absence of traces of use, the absence of fingerprints on the packages, dubious methods for conducting examinations, and provocations are parried with the standard phrase of the prosecution: he/she wants to evade responsibility,” says the lawyer.

Arsen Ambaryan notes that in his experience, the Kyrgyz security forces plant drugs primarily on drug users.

“Under the conditions when the institution of witnesses is excluded from the Code of Criminal Procedure, it’s not particularly difficult for two or more police officers to do this during a search. I recently came across a case in which 500 grams of heroin worth several thousand dollars was planted on a drug user who didn’t deny it during a search of his apartment. At the same time, the consumer himself said that he could hardly find money for living. The absence of fingerprints on the packaging, the absence of traces of drugs on the swabs, the statement about the planting of drugs and other critical violations of the law in terms of the admissibility of evidence, the absurdity of the accusation itself were not taken into account when considering the case in court. As a result of such work, the fight against the spread of drugs in the Kyrgyz Republic has turned into a fight against people, against drug users,” the lawyer believes.

In his opinion, the situation can be changed, but this will require a serious transformation of the relevant legislation.

“We need to change, not rewrite (update) the national drug policy approved in 2004, and the government’s program on this issue. Such policy documents should be modern and realistic and take into account the requirements of the Constitution. The draft law on narcotic drugs should be published, and the discussion of this draft should be public,” the expert is convinced.

In order to reduce the number of cases of drug planting, effective departmental control, prosecutorial supervision over operational-search activities should be established, and individual operational-search activities should be carried out only under careful and truly independent judicial control.

“In addition, it’s very important that society and the media pay attention to such cases. So that the laws are observed not only when it concerns journalists, but that this topic is raised every time we see the arbitrariness of the police. After all, other people don’t have the resources to draw attention to their case,” says Ambaryan.

To do this, in his opinion, it’s necessary to broadcast not only the victorious reports of the police about the arrest of another drug carrier, but also to make sure that society demands changes in legislation that guarantees effective protection of a person, even if he/she is alone in front of a dozen police officers.

“It’s necessary that the arguments about the planting are carefully checked at the court session and that the document on non-disclosure of investigation data wasn’t taken away from the suspect. When all this is transparent, we will see the quality of the investigation, prosecutorial supervision, and trials. When the courts become independent, the police officers will be well aware that any doubt will be interpreted by the court in favor of the accused. It’s necessary to strengthen procedural guarantees of the rights of a person detained on suspicion of committing an offense. It’s necessary to create such a legislative structure, in which any violation of procedural guarantees will entail the exclusion of evidence. The existing guarantees are insufficient and don’t work,” sums up the lawyer.

In addition, it’s necessary to create effective systems of voluntary and free rehabilitation of drug addicts.

“If a person keeps a few grams [of drugs], he shouldn’t be kept in prison on budget money. There should be those in prison who organize drug trafficking, who organize the production and transportation of drugs across our borders. After all, we have Afghan drugs in our country, but no one can answer how they appeared in the country,” states Arsen Ambaryan.

On the other hand, the expert notes that the authorities spend taxpayers’ money on a pseudo fight against drug trafficking and on solving their own political problems with its help.

“Let’s return to the case of Bolot Temirov! Can we calculate how much this two-day show cost? For almost eight hours, dozens of police officers, a prosecutor, an investigator, experts, transportation of all participants, a court, a lawyer participated in this show. If we calculate the money spent by the state over these two days, a reasonable question arises: was that worth it?” the lawyer asks rhetorically.