Uzbekistan: practice of torture continues during the investigation
The Judicial Collegium for criminal cases of the Regional Court of Andijan was forced to acquit Asrorakhon Khamdamova, accused of killing a 9-year-old girl while trying to conceal the theft. During the trial, a resident of Asaka region stated that she was subjected to “psychological and physical pressure” to obtain a confession of the crime.
The practice of interrogation during the investigation often involves beatings and torture. This time, the acquittal was due to the extreme unprofessionalism and sadism of the employees of the investigative department. Forensic experts found out 17 stab wounds on the girl’s body, traces of sexual violence and prints of four unknown persons. There were no fingerprints of the accused at the scene of the murder.
Without waiting for the results of the forensic experts’ work, the investigators tortured the woman and, after repeated painful shocks, she confessed to the massacre of the girl. Article 230 of the Criminal Code provides for the imprisonment of security officials for such methods of investigation for a term of 5 to 8 years.
Earlier, ACCA wrote about a similar crime in Andijan region. On June 11, 2020, Alijon Abdukarimov from Andijan died after torture without regaining consciousness. After being illegally detained on the evening of May 29, three officers tortured him at the Department of Internal Affairs. The investigation established that “the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department used violence, which was dangerous for health and life”.
