CCPR/C/119/D/2146/2012
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author submits that he is a person with disabilities using a wheelchair. On 5
January 2009, together with three companions, he travelled to the Russian Federation to
undergo medical treatment in the city of Pyatigorsk. 1 On 8 January 2009, they were arrested
near Nalchik by special police force officers. They were taken to a local police station,
where they were held through the night. On 9 January 2009, they were transferred to the
Antiterrorism Centre in Nalchik, where they were questioned about the purpose for their
trip. Thereafter, they were placed in a hotel,2 where they were detained de facto for one
month until their deportation to Kazakhstan.
2.2
The author was repeatedly taken to the anti-terrorism police unit for interrogation
and, two weeks before their deportation, he and his acquaintances were all questioned in the
hotel. They were subjected to beatings and other forms of ill-treatment by officers of the
Russian intelligence services to make them confess to having constituted a terrorist group.
However, no criminal case was initiated against them and the Russian authorities decided to
deport them to Kazakhstan for violation of immigration rules.
2.3
The author submits that, on 4 February 2009, he and those accompanying him were
transported by bus to the Russian-Kazakh border. On 5 February 2009, they were handed
over to several masked officers of the National Security Committee for the Atyrau region in
Kazakhstan, who immediately started beating them, forcibly twisting their arms behind
their back and using handcuffs, insulting them and threatening them with long prison terms.
Officers also covered the author and his companions’ faces with their own winter hats,
which made breathing difficult, and accused them of being “terrorists”.
2.4
The author further submits that the group was subsequently transferred to Astana. It
took the authorities from 5 to 7 February 2009 to transfer them from Atyrau to Astana.
During this time, the author was put in a car with his back against the car’s cold window
and beaten on his paralysed legs. Bags were put over the heads of those in the group and
they were deprived of food and not allowed to use toilets. The author further claims that he
sustained bruises on his hands because the handcuffs were too tight and that the woolly hat
covering his face made breathing difficult, as a result of which he lost consciousness
several times.
2.5
On 7 February 2009, the author was transferred to the National Security Committee
of Astana. He was thrown to the floor, kicked and beaten up and thereafter put in a closed
iron box called “the glass”, in which he nearly suffocated. Owing to extremely low
temperatures, the author suffered from frostbite. The beatings inflicted on his left leg
caused a severe open wound, which had not healed at the time of the author’s submission.
Lying on the cold floor resulted in an inflammation of his lungs. He also developed
osteomyelitis of the left thigh. His requests for medical assistance were ignored by the
medical unit of the pretrial detention facility. He was not allowed to use his wheelchair.
2.6
The author claims that, on 7 February 2009, in order to force him to confess that he
had constituted a terrorist group, the author was interrogated until midnight in the
Investigation Department of the National Security Committee in Astana. He was returned to
the pretrial detention facility of the Committee at 2 a.m. on 8 February 2009, where he was
unlawfully detained for four days, without his detention being authorized by a court. On 10
February 2009, Court No. 2 of the Almatinsk district of Astana finally approved his
detention.
2.7
On 21 January 2009, separately from the author, the author’s brother was arrested
for possession of explosives and, two months later, was also charged with constituting a
terrorist group. On 7 February 2009, a criminal case was opened against the author and his
brother under article 233-2, part 1, of the Criminal Code (“constituting or leading a terrorist
group and participating in its activities”). On 13 April 2009, new criminal charges were
brought against them under article 233-1, part 1, of the Code (“supporting terrorism or
calling for commission of an act of terrorism”). It was only on 11 February 2009 that the
1
2
2
Pyatigorsk is a city in the Stavropol territory, in Caucasus, the Russian Federation.
The exact location of this hotel has not been given.