CAT/C/60/D/651/2015
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
22 June 2017
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 651/2015
Communication submitted by:
Aleksei Ushenin (represented by counsel,
Viktoria Samartseva)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Kazakhstan
Date of complaint:
18 June 2014 (initial submission)
Date of present decision:
12 May 2017
Subject matter:
Torture following arrest and detention
Procedural issue:
Non-exhaustion of domestic remedies
Substantive issue:
Torture — prompt and impartial investigation
Articles of the Convention:
1, 2, 12, 13 and 14
Background
1.
The complainant is Aleksei Ushenin, a citizen of Kazakhstan born in 1977. He
claims that Kazakhstan violated his rights under articles 1, 2, 12, 13 and 14 of the
Convention. The complainant is represented by counsel, Viktoria Samartseva of the
Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law.
Facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
The complainant submits that on 28 August 2011, several police officers arrested
him and took him to a police station. During his detention, police officers 1 tortured him in
an attempt to force him to confess involvement in a robbery. The police officers threatened
the complainant that if he did not confess, the authorities would put his wife in jail. In
addition, the police officers inflicted beatings on his feet and hands and repeatedly hit his
head against the wall.
2.2
The complainant claims that the police officers repeatedly put a plastic bag on his
head until he lost consciousness; he was revived with ammonium chloride. The
complainant also claims that the police officers put out cigarettes on his body, causing
severe burns. They pulled down his pants and burned his buttocks with cigarettes, and
repeatedly inserted a rubber baton in his anus. One of the police officers filmed this
treatment. The complainant submits that the police officers threatened to shoot him and
1
The complainant provides the names of several of the officers, including K.U., K.R. and S.H.
GE.17-10397(E)