CCPR/C/120/D/2435/2014
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
On 29 October 2010, Karasu District Court sentenced the author to life
imprisonment with confiscation of his property, for organizing riots, destroying property,
unlawful use of firearms, and murdering two or more persons who were performing their
official duties. On 27 December 2010, Osh Regional Court modified the sentence to 25
years of imprisonment. The latter judgment was upheld by the Supreme Court, on 12 May
2012. During the criminal proceedings before the national courts, the author maintained
that he had been forced to confess guilt during the pretrial investigation. He points out that
his criminal prosecution is related to the events in Osh of June 2010.
2.2
On 22 June 2010, at around midday, four armed police officers entered the house of
the author’s father and performed a search, with the aim of finding weapons. No weapons
were found during the search and the author’s father was taken to a police station in Osh
Region. The author’s father was forced to call his son and inform him that he was wanted
by the police and must go to the village of Kashkar Kyshtak, where the police could
apprehend him.
2.3
On the same day, following his father’s phone call, the author arrived at the said
village, where he was apprehended by four police officers and taken to a police station in
Osh Region. There, he was taken to one of the offices on the second floor of the police
building. The author’s father was held in another office on the same floor. Soon thereafter,
the author’s father heard his son screaming with pain. Then the father was informed that his
son was involved in the murder of the chief of the Karasu Police District. Thereafter, the
author’s father was released and he waited for his son outside the building.
2.4
On the same day, between 3 and 4 p.m., the author was taken out of the police
station. His father witnessed the author being supported by two police officers, as he was
unable to move by himself, and saw that his face and clothes were covered with blood.
Fourteen hours later, the author was finally registered at the police station. On 23 June 2010,
Osh City Court decided to place the author in pretrial detention. On 24 June 2010, the
counsel for the author, who had been appointed by the investigator, telephoned the author’s
father and informed him that he was representing the author.
2.5
On approximately 28 or 29 June 2010, the ex officio counsel telephoned the author’s
father again and invited him to visit the officer in charge of the investigation. During the
meeting, the investigator asked him to pay US$ 10,000 for his son’s release. Following a
negative response, the investigator asked the father whether he could then pay $5,000. The
investigator proposed that the father think about the offer, and stated that if the requested
amount was paid, his son would be charged only with participating in the mass riots. After
three or four days, the investigator phoned the author’s father to find out whether he had
managed to collect the requested amount of money. The father had managed to collect
$1,000 and the investigator asked him to pay that amount. 1
2.6
Around 10 July 2010, the author phoned his father and informed him that he had
been constantly ill-treated and tortured, that is, he had been forcibly injected with unknown
substances and been forced to take unknown medication. During his interrogation, his head
had been wrapped in a plastic bag and he had been asked to confess guilt. Further, he stated
that he had been forced to sit half-naked on a chair with a hole, and when he sat his genitals
were beaten with plastic bottles full of water. In addition, he complained that a sharp object
had been inserted under his fingernails and toenails. Moreover, during the night he had
been kept handcuffed to a radiator.
2.7
On 4 August 2010, when the author was taken to the identification procedure, he
was again severely beaten. According to the author, he was methodically beaten in the area
of his abdomen and his head. During the identification procedure, when the author refused
to confess guilt, he was again severely beaten to the point that he lost consciousness and
had to be taken to a hospital. Nevertheless, he was taken back on the same day to pretrial
detention facility No. 5, where his cellmates insisted on taking him to the medical unit of
1
2
It is not clear whether the payment was made.