CAT/C/48/D/433/2010
Punishment. He is represented by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Kazakhstan
International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. 2
The facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
On 27 March 2007, the complainant went to the local police station, the Kostanai
City Southern Department of Internal Affairs, where his stepson A. had been detained. The
complainant was taken to an office on the third floor and was locked in there for
approximately 30 minutes.
2.2
At around 8 p.m., five police officers entered the office and demanded that he
confess to the murder of an elderly woman living in his neighbourhood. While
acknowledging that he knew the woman, he denied any involvement in her death. Over
about an hour, the complainant was interrogated and advised to confess the crime. He
continued to deny the allegations. One of the officers inflicted several heavy blows to his
kidneys. The officers then threatened him with sexual violence.
2.3
He was thereafter forced to the floor, chest down. The officers tied his hands behind
his back using his belt. Four officers held his legs and torso so that he could not move. The
fifth officer took a thick clear polypropylene bag and placed it over his head. This officer
then forced his right knee into his back, and began to pull the plastic bag backwards,
suffocating him until he bled from his nose, ears and from the abrasions on his face
(technique known as “dry submarino”) before finally losing consciousness. When the
complainant started losing consciousness, the bag was loosened. This process was repeated
multiple times.
2.4
As a result of such treatment, the complainant became disoriented and stopped
resisting. At some point, his blood became visible on the polypropylene bag and on the
floor. His eyebrow area, nose and ears were all bleeding. Upon seeing the blood, the
officers stopped the torture. The complainant spent the night in a chair, under the
supervision of a police officer.
2.5
The complainant’s detention on 27 March 2007 was not registered and he was not
provided with a lawyer. On 28 March 2007, he was interrogated by the police investigator,
who hit him on the head with a large book. At 6 p.m., he was released without being
charged with any offence. Immediately following his release, he suffered from severe
headaches and nausea. Once home, he continued to have severe headaches and the same
evening was admitted to the Neurosurgical Department at the Kostanai City Hospital,
where he was diagnosed with a major closed craniocerebral trauma, brain contusion,
contusions to the right kidney, the lumbar region, and the soft tissue of the head, and a
contused wound to the right superciliary arch.3 He remained in the hospital for 13 days, and
after discharge continued to experience strong headaches, pain in his kidney areas, and
hand and eye tremors.
2.6
On 29 March 2007, the complainant’s stepson submitted a complaint both on his
own behalf and on behalf of the complainant to the Prosecutor’s Office for the City of
Kostanai (City Prosecutor’s Office). On 5 April 2007, the complainant himself submitted a
complaint to Southern Department of Internal Affairs, which is the police station where the
alleged torture occurred. In April 2007, the Southern Department of Internal Affairs
2
3
A power of attorney, dated 22 February 2010 and signed by the complainant, is enclosed with the
complaint.
Discharge note available on file. The complainant’s injuries are also depicted in the photographs
provided. A DVD, containing the complainant’s oral testimony about his torture, is also available on
file.
3