CCPR/C/130/D/3000/2017
Facts as submitted by the author
2.1
On 27 December 2010, at around 5 p.m., the author, his brother, and several other
people were arrested on suspicion of having organized a terrorist attack in Bishkek on 30
November 2010. The arrest was carried out by a group of armed officers in camouflage
military uniforms and balaclavas at the house of the author’s brother. On apprehending him,
the officers forced the author into a minivan, which they drove to an unknown destination.
The author had to wait for two hours in the van, while search activities were carried out in
relation to other persons.
2.2
At about 7.30 p.m. on the same day, the author was taken to the office of the State
Committee on National Security. He was placed in one of the rooms, where a group of
officers in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas beat him up to try to force him to confess to
having taken part in the terrorist act. According to the author, the beatings lasted eight to nine
hours, during which time he was handcuffed, with his hands fixed behind his back and his
legs bound to a chair. With the aim of extracting a confession, the officers inflicted numerous
blows on different parts of his body; in particular, they hit him with hands and feet on his
belly, arms, legs, head and lower back; they also subjected him to electric shocks. Several
times, the officers put a plastic bag over his head, causing suffocation and loss of
consciousness. Having failed to obtain a confession, the officers left the author locked in the
office with no access to drinking water until his release at about 5 p.m. on 29 December 2010.
Before releasing him, they made him sign a written undertaking not to file any complaints.
His detention remained unrecorded, despite the legal requirement to draw up a record within
three hours of an arrest, and he was never informed of the reasons for his arrest.
2.3
Between 4 and 12 January 2011, the author underwent inpatient medical treatment in
the Scientific Research Centre for Traumatology and Orthopaedics in Bishkek. He was
diagnosed with contusions of the lumbar area and chest and contusions and abrasions of the
limbs and torso.1
2.4
On 4 January 2011, the author applied to the Kylym Shamy human rights centre in
Bishkek to obtain legal assistance in relation to his ill-treatment. On the same date, he was
photographed with the aim of securing evidence of his injuries. On 4 January 2011, the author
submitted a request to the Prosecutor General to open criminal proceedings into his illtreatment, as advised by counsel. The complaint was assigned to the Police Investigations
Unit No. 7 of the Pervomai District Department of the Interior in Bishkek. On 6 January 2011,
an investigator ordered an expert medical examination in relation to the injuries sustained by
the author. It was noted in medical expert report No. 12, dated 10 January 2011, that the
author had had burns on his back, contusion of the lumbar area and chest and contusions and
abrasions of the limbs and torso. The injuries were qualified as being of a low level of
severity.2 That conclusion was subsequently confirmed in a forensic medical expert panel
report, No. 372 of 22 October 2012.3
2.5
On 26 January 2011, the author lodged a complaint with the President of Kyrgyzstan
about the failure of the authorities to take the necessary measures to investigate his illtreatment.
2.6
Subsequently, on an unspecified date, the author’s complaint concerning ill-treatment
was transferred to the military prosecutor’s office for further investigation. On 14 February
2011, the investigator from the military prosecutor’s office refused to open a criminal case
into the incident due to the absence of corpus delicti. The decision stated, inter alia, that,
according to an internal review conducted by the State Committee on National Security on
the basis of the author’s complaint, at the moment of apprehension, the author and his brother
had exerted active resistance, compelling the officers to use physical force and measures of
restraint, which had caused the burns on the author’s back. After their arrest, the author and
his brother had been taken to the office of the State Committee on National Security for
1
2
3
2
The author provided the hospital report, No. 292, issued by the Scientific Research Centre, in his
communication.
The author did not receive a copy of this report, despite numerous requests sent by his counsel to the
prosecutor’s office.
The author submitted a copy of report No. 372 in his communication.