CCPR/C/120/D/2173/2012
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
For several years, 1 the author’s son, Ismonboy Boboev, had been residing in the
Russian Federation and had acquired that country’s citizenship. The author’s son travelled
to Tajikistan to visit his parents and take back his daughter, who was visiting her
grandparents.
2.2
On 19 February 2010, at around noon, the author’s son was arrested in the city of
Isfara. The arrest occurred near the city’s main mosque, and the arresting officers informed
the author’s son that he was suspected of membership in the extremist organization called
“The Islamic Movement of Turkestan”. 2 When friends of the author’s son noticed his
absence, they called his mobile phone. The phone was answered by officer F.S., who
introduced himself as a police officer and informed the friends that Ismonboy Boboev had
been arrested and subsequently transferred to the city of Khudzhand.
2.3
The author claims that he immediately contacted the police departments in both
Isfara and Khudzhand. Both police departments, however, refused to provide any
information relating to his son’s whereabouts. On 20 February 2010, the author was
informed that his son was dead.
2.4
Upon receiving this information, the author went to the police department in
Khudzhand and requested to see the record of his son’s arrest. The police refused to provide
any documents. The author then demanded to see his son’s body. He was taken to the
criminal forensics department where his son’s body was kept.
2.5
The author’s son’s body had clear signs of beating, bruises below the knees and dark
marks of what he thought were electric burns on his fingers. The author requested a
document recording the signs of torture and that his son had died as a result of beating. The
medical experts refused to issue such a document and insisted that the author’s son had
arrived at the police station with bruises and electric burns and his death occurred because
“he choked on his own tongue”.
2.6
On 23 February 2010, the author asked the police in Khudzhand to inform him about
the investigation into his son’s death. The police told him that they had not launched such
an investigation since there was no report by forensics experts as yet. The author demanded
that an investigation be launched, nevertheless, and went to meet with the local
administration. He also wrote letters to the President of Tajikistan, the Prosecutor General
and other officials.
2.7
The criminal investigation into the death of Ismonboy Boboev was finally launched
on 5 March 2010, some 14 days after his death. The investigation named F.S. and A.M.,
two officers of the Sughd Region police who had arrested Ismonboy Boboev, as suspects.
2.8
On 10 March 2010, the criminal forensics experts issued their first report. The report
stated that the cause of death was “mechanical asphyxiation” as a result of swallowing
one’s own tongue. The report, however, did not state why the author’s son had swallowed
his tongue. On 29 March 2010, in addition to the initial charge of murder, the suspects, F.S.
and A.M., were also charged with abuse of power, and on 31 March 2010, with extortion.
On an unknown date, all three criminal charges were combined into one.
2.9
The author requested that another autopsy be performed. That was done and the
results were issued on 6 April 2010 by the State Regional Centre for Criminal Forensics.
This second forensic medical examination concluded that the author’s son died of an
electrical injury and severe heart and respiratory failure, which, the author submits, shows
clearly that his son was tortured and died as a result of torture and ill-treatment.
2.10 On 25 June 2010, the criminal case was “suspended” owing to health issues of the
two suspects, police officers F.S. and A.M. The case remains suspended as of the date of
the submission of the present communication. During that time, F.S. left the police force on
1
2
2
The author does not specify exact dates.
According to the author, the arrest was carried out by the Office for Combating Organized Crime,
Department of Internal Affairs, Sughd Region.