CCPR/C/130/D/2451/2014
1.
The author is V.I., a national of Kyrgyzstan, born in 1972. He claims that the State
party has violated his rights under articles 7, 9 (2) and 14 (1), (2), and (3) (b) and (g) of the
Covenant. The Optional Protocol entered into force for the State party on 7 January 1995.
The author is represented by his mother.
Facts as submitted by the author
2.1
On 20 December 2006, several police officers entered a house belonging to the
author’s brother. The officers violently beat the author on the face with a pistol grip and then
took him outside without his coat and shoes. He was pushed to the ground and beaten again.
The author was then forced into a patrol car and driven away.
2.2
The author was brought to the Zhaiyl district police station where he was offered
vodka, heroin and cannabis in exchange for his confession to a crime. After the author refused,
he was beaten with police batons and threatened with sexual violence. Two hours after his
arrest, the author found out that his acquaintance Z. had named him as an accomplice in the
raping and killing of a schoolgirl on 10 September 2006.
2.3
The author submits that later on the same day, he was taken to a local hospital for a
medical examination and to submit his blood and saliva samples. During the medical
examination, one of the police officers told the doctor that the author was “that second guy
who raped the little girl”. Notwithstanding the author’s numerous injuries, the doctor issued
a medical certificate stating that the author was in good health.
2.4
Immediately after the medical examination, the author was taken to the police station
in Alekseevka village where he was subjected to additional ill-treatment. For the purposes of
intimidation, the police officers took off his pants, forced him to get down on his knees as if
preparing to rape him and took photos of him, saying that they would show them to his
cellmates in jail. The author was also threatened that if he did not sign a confession, the police
would plant drugs in his brother’s house and incite the local Kyrgyz population to beat up his
elderly mother. After a day of physical and psychological torture, the author agreed to sign a
confession. He was appointed a lawyer; however, he was forced to limit what he told the
lawyer, as instructed by the investigator, and he was not allowed to have a confidential
meeting with him. Immediately after signing the confession, the author was told that he would
be brought to the crime scene for a re-enactment of the crime as an investigative experiment.
2.5
Before going to the crime scene, however, the author was taken to another office and
the same three police officers who had tortured him earlier again beat his feet with police
batons and instructed him what to say and do. Despite it being late at night and very cold, he
was taken to the crime scene without his coat and shoes. According to the author, there is a
video of him from that night, which was used as evidence and in which one can clearly see
injuries to his face and hands. At the crime scene, when the investigative experiment ended,
he was attacked by the victim’s father and other relatives of the victim who also happened to
be at the crime scene. While this was happening, the police simply watched, without
interfering. Afterwards, the author was brought back to the Zhaiyl district police station and
again subjected to beatings by several police officers. He was then left handcuffed to a pipe
until 7 a.m. According to the author, the beatings continued on 6 January 2007 at the
temporary detention facility in Belovodskoe, and again on 10 January 2007, when he was
taken to the Zhaiyl district police station, where the police beat him and tried to get him to
confess to another unsolved murder in the area of Sosnovskiy povorot.
2.6
The author submits that his appointed lawyer was not present during any of the
interrogations or other investigative activities; however, the lawyer’s signature appeared in
all procedural documents throughout the investigation. Meanwhile, on 30 December 2006,
the author’s mother hired another lawyer, with whom the author was able to meet only on 3
January 2007.
2.7
On 12 January 2007, the author’s new lawyer submitted a complaint to the Zhaiyl
district prosecutor’s office concerning the torture the author had suffered. On 13 January
2007, the author underwent a medical examination, which revealed that he had sustained
injuries to his shoulders and face by a blunt, hard object. However, the examination could
not determine when exactly the injuries had been inflicted. On 22 January 2007, a Zhaiyl
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