Tajikistan: $600 compensation for torture and incitement to suicide
On March 20, the judicial collegium for civil affairs of the military collegium under the Supreme Court of Tajikistan upheld the decision of the Garrison court of Dushanbe to partially satisfy claims of the parents of K.Kh., who committed suicide as a result of torture and cruel treatment. Lawyers do not agree with the assigned compensation amount of $600 and intend to submit a supervisory appeal to the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistan.
According to the Coalition against Torture in Tajikistan, a claim for compensation for moral damages in the amount of $60 thousand was filed by lawyers of the parents of the deceased to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan and the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan.
In their objection, the defendants claimed compensation for moral damage at the expense of the perpetrators. According to them, the departments, where convicted persons [who had driven a 31-year-old resident of Ashta district to the suicide] were serving, should not be held responsible for the damage caused by their employees.
Recall that a 31-year-old resident of Ashta, under torture, made a confession that he took part in the activities of a political movement prohibited in the country, and also testified against a number of people.
Unable to withstand physical and mental torment and remorse, K.Kh. committed suicide, but previously he recorded a dying video appeal, in which he described in detail what happened to him and who of the law enforcement officials used cruel treatment and torture against him. K.Kh. left a wife and two young children.
Upon the death of K.Kh. by the verdict of the military court of Khujand’s garrison, three employees of the above departments were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment with serving a sentence in a maximum security colony and depriving them of the right to engage in professional activities.
The military court of Dushanbe’s garrison did not limit itself to making a decision on the lawsuit, and in order to prevent similar facts in the future, it issued particular rulings demanding that effective measures be taken with respect to the respondent departments.
