I found this while looking for news for the Central Asia Beat of last week, but it was well worth returning to: accounts of torture in Naryn by the police. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights works to raise awareness of human rights violations in Central Asia, improve local human rights defenders personal security and their access to policy-making, and interact between local and international communities. And indeed August 13th looks like a day of decision: two police officers were acquitted of torture, perhaps wrongly. One new investigation was formally started on torture charges. And one more prisoner died.
According to the International Helsinki Federation and the Kyrgyzstani human rights center Kylym Shamy, several arrests by Naryn's GOVD (a department of the Ministry of Interior) have ended in prisoner deaths. This is pretty much verbatim from the IHF/Kylym Shamy Press Release:
Alykbek Sakeev, a 48 year old man, was arrested by two officers of GOVD, Chyngyz Kerimkulov and Taalajbek Chypaev, on suspicion of cattle theft on 20 November 2006. After several hours, he was delivered to the emergency room of the casualty hospital in Naryn where he died without regaining consciousness.
According to Sakeev's relatives and doctors he had five broken ribs on each side, skull trauma, a bruise on the head, and many other traumas. . . . the GOVD officers that Sakeev simply fell down from the bench several times.
On 25 November 2006, a criminal case was initiated against the two law enforcement officers for torture under articles 305 and 305-1, but in three days they were released after signing a statement that they would not leave the state. In February 2007, Sakeev's relatives withdrew their appeal after receiving 200,000 Soms from the GOVD officers, and the Naryn city prosecutor's office tried to close the case.
Under pressure from human rights defenders, the case was reinitiated. On 13 August 2007, the two police officers were acquitted.
It certainly looks as if justice fell off the bench several times, and it also looks like human rights defenders are at some risk:
Several days before the court decision, human rights defender Aziza Abdurasulova, who monitored the trial, was attacked in the court hall by unknown women.
The investigation of Bektemir Akunov's death began August 13:
Also on 13 August, the court started the trial to determine the cause of death of Bektemir Akunov, who reportedly hanged himself by his own shirt in the pre-detention cell in GOVD department of the Naryn city on 14 April 2007. The unsettled circumstances surrounding his death have attracted public attention in Kyrgyzstan after an independent commission headed by Aziza Abdurasulova had concluded that Akunov did not commit suicide.
And another prisoner died.
On the same day of 13 August 2007, Kurmanbek Kalmatov, a 55-year old man, died after he was beaten by the senior investigator of the Naryn city.
Ms. Abdurasulova also reports seeing 14-and 15 year old youths with slash marks on their hands who reported also being kicked while wearing gas masks–in order to get them to confess to a crime they did not commit.
The Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights is also keeping track of these cases, but it looks like the Kyrgyzstan national government will have to get involved in order to make sure that justice is done and that a policy of torture is no longer pursued in Naryn, or indeed, anywhere else in Kyrgyzstan.