CCPR/C/128/D/2384/2014
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
On 16 May 2009, a friend of the author died in a traffic accident. 1 The author was
arrested as a suspect by the traffic police and brought to the Suzak district police station at
2.40 a.m. on 17 May 2009. He was held there until 4 p.m. the next day, while being subjected
to repeated beatings by four police officers asking him to confess to having run over his friend
with a car and fleeing the scene. He was hit and kicked in the head, chest, stomach and feet,
including with a police baton, after which the officers took off his shoes, held him face down
on a table and started beating his heels with a baton. Unable to bear the pain from the beatings,
the author confessed to the crimes.
2.2
On 18 May 2009, the Suzak district prosecutor saw the author in the basement of the
police station, and the author complained to him about the beatings he had suffered. 2 On the
same day, the author was released, and the Suzak district prosecutor’s office ordered a
forensic medical examination of his injuries. On 19 May 2009, the author was sent by the
forensic expert to the department of urology of the Zhalal-Abad regional hospital in order to
undergo an examination, owing to the pain in his kidneys. Later that day, the author was
taken by the police from the hospital to the Suzak district police station, where he was
officially declared a suspect in the traffic accident that had resulted in the death of his friend.
While at the police station, the author’s condition deteriorated, and he was again taken to the
department of urology of the Zhalal-Abad regional hospital. On 20 May 2009, the author was
transferred to the Suzak district hospital and placed in the guarded ward, where he was
interrogated by the police.
2.3
On 21 May 2009, the author was formally charged with accidentally running over his
friend with a car. On the same date, the Suzak district court ordered the author’s detention on
remand. The author claims that the judge failed to examine the lawfulness of his arrest and
ordered his detention, despite the investigator not being able to present any evidence that the
author could abscond or obstruct the investigation. On 2 June 2009, the Zhalal-Abad regional
court quashed the Suzak district court ruling to detain the author and ordered him to be placed
under house arrest. On 9 July 2009, the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan reversed the ruling of
the Zhalal-Abad regional court and ordered that the author be detained on remand. On 15
July 2009, the author was detained and placed in a temporary detention facility.
2.4
On 3 June 2009, the Suzak district prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation
into the author’s ill-treatment by unknown police officers on charges of abuse of power. Two
forensic medical examinations were performed, and both determined that the author had
sustained various injuries which corresponded to the time of his detention at the Suzak district
police station.3 On 31 July 2009, the Suzak district prosecutor’s office closed its investigation
into the beatings, due to the lack of corpus delicti. The case was transferred to the Suzak
district police department for further inquiry,4 but the police department suspended the case
on 3 August 2009, due to the absence of known perpetrators. After the author appealed the
suspension of the case to the Office of the Prosecutor General on 19 August 2009, the ZhalalAbad regional prosecutor’s office quashed the two previous decisions by the district
authorities and reopened the criminal investigation into the author’s beatings. On 16 and 17
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2
According to the author, on 16 May 2009, he and his friend, K, were drinking alcohol near a gas station
when K left in search of a bathroom, was hit by an unknown vehicle and later died. The driver of the
vehicle did not stop after hitting K and drove away. The author got into his own car and tried to chase
the vehicle, but he hit an oncoming car.
No details were provided.
The submitted documents indicate that the first forensic medical examination, conducted on 18 May
2009, could not determine the time of occurrence or the severity of the injuries, and it was the
recommendation of the examiner that a second examination be conducted to answer those questions.
The conclusions were that the injuries had been caused by contact with blunt, hard objects with a
limited contact surface, but it could not be excluded that they could have been caused by a car
accident or by a fall. The second forensic examination was conducted on 24 June 2009 and was based
on the results of the first examination and photographs of the author’s injuries. The author himself
was not examined. The second examination confirmed the injuries to the author’s chest, back, ankle,
heels, buttocks and kidney. It concluded that the injuries had most likely been caused by police batons
or similar objects during the time when the author was being held in police custody.
No further details were provided.