CCPR/C/119/D/2125/2011
The Optional Protocol entered into force for Kazakhstan on 30 September 2009. 1 The
author is represented by counsel.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
On 22 October 2008, around 5 p.m., the author — the owner of a construction
business in Astana — and his wife were summoned by the police to the Department of
Internal Affairs in Astana. They were questioned as witnesses in the case of the murder of
the wife and three minor children of their acquaintance Y., also a businessman in Astana.
The questioning lasted until 10.30 p.m. After that the author was taken to the Almaty
District Department of Internal Affairs and was questioned there until 1.30 a.m. During the
questioning, five police officers were beating and threatening him in order to force him to
confess guilt and to give testimony against his acquaintance E., who was the main suspect
in the case. At 2.30 a.m. on 23 October 2008, the author was allowed to leave.
2.2
Around 10 a.m. on 23 October 2008, the author and his wife reported the illtreatment by police to the Department of the National Security Committee in Astana,
indicating the names of two of the five officers who had tortured him. 2 Directly from there,
the author was taken for fingerprinting and DNA-testing by the police officers who had
questioned him the previous day. A police officer stayed at the author’s apartment that
night for the purposes of security.
2.3
Around 7 p.m. on 24 October 2008, the author was questioned as a suspect, since his
fingerprint had been found in the bathroom of the victims’ house and he supposedly owed
money to Y. Around 9 p.m., he was escorted to a temporary detention facility at the
Department of Internal Affairs in Astana. From 24 to 27 October 2008, the author was
questioned repeatedly without his lawyer, N., who had been hired by his wife. Officer O.
visited the author several times each day, threatening him and beating him about his ears
and his head. On 25 October 2008, the police officers informed the author that his lawyer
and his wife had abandoned him. On the same day, the police officers hit him in the chest
and made him stand next to the wall for four hours. On several occasions, he was locked in
without food, water or access to a toilet in a so-called “glass” — a 50 cm2 space where he
could not sit down. The police officers ignored the author’s requests for a medical
examination. The first medical examination was carried out on 30 October 2008, when
there were no marks left on the author’s body. The author was examined every day between
30 October and 21 November 2008, when he had not been subjected to ill-treatment.
2.4
On 25 October 2008, the author was forced into writing a confession, in which he
testified against E. On 26 October 2008, the court authorized the detention of the author for
10 days. On 27 October 2008, the author was made to write a second confession, in the
presence of a lawyer on duty, A. The author retracted the two confessions and refused the
services of A. on 2 November 2008, when a new lawyer, G., hired by his wife, visited him.
2.5
On 3 November 2008, the author was charged with murder of Ms. Y. and her
children. In view of the gravity of the charges, the investigator, not the court, extended the
author’s detention, in total until 28 December 2008. Subsequent decisions to extend the
detention were made by the courts on 22 December 2008 and 16 January 2009. The author
appealed each of the decisions concerning his detention, requesting release on bail. The
courts rejected the appeals stating that the author could influence the witnesses in the case
or abscond from investigation or trial.
1
2
2
At the time of ratification of the Optional Protocol, the State party made the following declaration:
“The Republic of Kazakhstan, in accordance with article 1 of the Optional Protocol to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, recognizes the competence of the Human Rights
Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals subject to the jurisdiction of the
Republic of Kazakhstan concerning actions and omissions by the State authorities or acts or decisions
adopted by them following the entry into force of this Optional Protocol in the Republic of
Kazakhstan.”
On the same day, the author submitted similar complaints to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Almaty
District in Astana and the Personal Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Astana.