Kazakhstan continues to investigate the reasons for January clashes. Citizens report illegal detentions and torture on social media.
Photos taken from the Facebook account of Zhanbolat Mamai
On Sunday, February 13, an unauthorised protest was held in Almaty demanding to stop torturing those detained during the protests. Nearly 500 people gathered at the Republic Square.
Previously, President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev in the interview to Khabar 24 answering the question about excesses in the investigation of the January tragedy said that he was concerned about non-violation of citizens’ rights. He also noted that he ordered the General Prosecutor’s Office to investigate every single case. He also said about the public commission established by activists and welcomed this decision.
Nevertheless, activist and writer Duman Ramazan said that those who took part in the peaceful march are being persecuted and held liable.
“For example, there were no crimes in Kokshetau, nothing was damaged. However, people there are still persecuted. There are such talented Kazakh writers as Almas Temirbai and Kuanysh Ospan among the people who were peaceful protesters in Kokshetau. So, a complaint was lodged against both,” he said.
Ilyas Dukenbaev, resident of Taldykorgan, became the victim of persecution after the January events and torture. His wife Gulzhanat Tumenova said that Ilyas and his friends were detained on January 6, and then he was tortured and battered. It continued for a week.
“They beat him everywhere at the pre-trial detention centre: between legs, on his feet, on his head with an automatic rifle and with a rubber club, knocked him down and beat him sitting on his back. Thus, they made Ilyas perjure himself and take the blame upon himself after severe and cruel torture. […] I was allowed to visit him only 2 times a month, and banned me from being a social defender. He was crying during my visit,” Tumenova said.
In early February, Azamat Batyrbaev, who took part in the demolition of the monument of Nursultan Nazarbayev in Taldykorgan, was detained and placed into the pre-trial detention centre for the time of investigation. According to his relatives, they learned that police officers battered him, burned his body with the iron. After torture, he was hospitalised, but was taken back to the pre-trial detention centre before he received the required amount of medical care.
On January 10, Yeldos Kaliev was detained in Semei. He was delivered to the Internal Affairs Department for curfew violation, wherefrom his family took his body on January 12. The family was told that a grenade and a club were found during the search, and he died when he was resisting the police.
Anar Kalieva and her 18-year-old son Aziz were detained there for taking part in peaceful protests. They are now in the pre-trial detention centre and, according to relatives, are exposed to torture, although neither Aziz, nor Anar took part in mass disorders and seizure of buildings.
Semei-based Raigul Sadyrbaeva, human rights defender of Elima Movement, also told about use of torture. She was detained on January 12 for participation in mass disorders and seizure of buildings.
“I was placed into a cold isolation ward of the temporary detention facility without electricity, water, access to fresh air, toilet, mattress. I had to sleep on an iron bed and I had to refuse food because of horrible smell. The major demanded that I cooperated with the investigation, and signed the plea bargain in exchange for a comfortable ward. I refused to perjure myself and the major said that everything would be “bad.” Afterwards, they strangled me until I lost consciousness. A police officer in the temporary detention facility of Semei tried to rape me with a club,” she wrote in her statement to the General Prosecutor’s Office asking to take measures.
148 complaints on using unlawful methods of investigation, abuse of powers, abuse of office were submitted to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan. Yeldos Kilymzhanov, deputy chief of the first Service of General Prosecutor’s Office, said so at the briefing on February 4.
On January 8, Abilkhair Kumekov was arrested in his home in Taraz. He was put into a car, and when the mother asked them not to beat him, they said: “We can shoot him to death because we have the order.” Relatives were looking for him for two days, and could find him on the third day only with the help of a private lawyer in the pre-trial detention centre.
“Abilkhair did not participate in any clashes, did not force into the akimat’s building, and he returned back home successfully after the protest. When I was looking for him and found him, they said that I was mother of the terrorist. He was beaten there for two days, he had hematoma of the posterior thoracic wall, hematoma of the shoulder joint, bruise of the periorbital region to the left. Now Abilkhair is unlawfully charged with the politically motivated article and is threatened with 7 to 12 years in prison for nothing,” his mother, Amankul Bekeshova, said in the comment to CABAR.asia.
At the end of January, 16-year-old Berikbol Yesbolat was detained in Taldykorgan on suspicion of participation in protests. According to his father, he had his back burned with the iron by police, and his teeth taken out with tongs.
According to Aiman Umarova, chair of the public commission on investigation of January events Akikat, hundreds of people resort to them every day – by phone, electronic mail.
“Based on the words of complainants, police officers often make conclusions based on videos: if people were there, they took part in mass disorders. Now, because he was there, he is charged with terrorism or mass disorders. This is not right, not all wanted to do it. One wanted to kill, another one wanted to steal, the third one wanted to vandalise. Every crime committed can be qualified. And it is very difficult to state the offence if there are no such evidences as a video footage,” she said (cited from Tengrinews.kz).
Lawyer Dzhokhar Utebekov noted that torture in Kazakhstan is not even a grievous crime, but a crime of average gravity with provides for a penalty. However, the country has ratified the UN Convention against Torture, which binds the country to ensure that torture is under criminal law.
“International standards demand imprisonment for torture. I demand that the authorities make torture equal to rape. Torture must become a grievous crime. […] If a case is ‘opened’, it does not mean it is ‘being investigated.’ I looked at the website of the General Prosecutor’s Office and saw that many cases were dismissed. The General Prosecutor’s Office had better name how many police officers have been recognised as suspects. And how many police officers have been arrested. I think, none,” Utebekov said.
The fact that there are cases of torture and murders in prisons of Kazakhstan is a well-known fact, said Stepnogorsk-based activist Sarzhan Idirisov. According to him, hundreds of people are subjected to torture every year, but guilty ones are rarely punished.
“For example, in 2019, the number of convicted under article “torture” was 24, in 2020, 13 people were convicted under this article,” Idirisov said.
On February 12, the petition demanding the dismissal of the head of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Yerlan Turgumbaev, appeared on the website of online petitions. It was signed by more than 4,000 people. According to Idirisov, the country should have reformed the police a long time ago.
“I think that police officers retaliate for the fact that they were beaten and derided during the clashes. The society does not respect public officers. The President has given time for strict investigation. The Ministry of Interior Affairs tries to close all cases quickly and innocent people are forced to take blame upon themselves. Nothing has changed for the better in Kazakhstan,” he said.
According to economist Alma Onzhanova, the consequences of unlawful detentions and torture may affect not only the politics, but also the economy of Kazakhstan.
“Human rights are enshrined in the Constitution. However, Kazakhstan does not respect human rights. Many international media have started their investigations. I think Kazakhstan can expect economic sanctions and inflation. According to official data, there is 1 million poor people in the country. The authorities wanted to solve the problem via the “For the people of Kazakhstan” fund. But, as we can see, few persons wanted to help people and transferred money to the fund because oligarchs and entrepreneurs know that the money would not reach the people,” she said.
On January 20, the European Parliament adopted the resolution demanding “the proper international investigation into the crimes committed against the people of Kazakhstan.” President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev called the resolution “unfair and early.”