A month after returning home, Kyrgyz musician Vikram Ruzakhunov admitted that he was subjected to torture during his arrest and detention in Almaty. He wrote about it on Instagram.
He believes that if the video with his confessions had not been shown on the Kazakh TV channel, then no one would have known about his detention.
«Thanks to you, people all over the world were able to understand the realities of what was happening, to make clear-eyed assessment of the events in Kazakhstan. Although I told reporters that no one would believe me and that I had a job in Kyrgyzstan, they did not listen. Thanks to the person who, out of hundreds of unreasonably detained, innocent, chose me, made me memorize the script and retell it to the camera. According to the doctors, I had a little time left, because the broken ribs had already damaged the left lung, a couple of blows were enough to damage the heart,» he wrote.
Vikram Ruzakhunov noted that eminent show business artists, honored cultural figures of Kyrgyzstan and Russia tirelessly covered the situation.
«All of this was due to the fact that no one from the law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan has ever verified my identity,» he wrote.
I constantly repeated during the interrogations, and during torture I shouted that I was a famous musician, asked to simply enter my name in a search engine. I got only curses and mockery in response.
Vikram Ruzakhunov
The musician stressed that he had recently been infected with coronavirus and stayed in self-isolation. He thanked all concerned Kyrgyzstanis for their support during the events in Almaty.
Local Kazakh TV channels showed a video report on January 9, 2020, in which a man says that he came to Kazakhstan to participate in a rally in Almaty. The report says that some people called the Kyrgyzstani on January 1 and offered to participate in the rally for $200. The man was recognized as the head of a jazz orchestra from Bishkek Vikram Ruzakhunov.
Activists and journalists of Kyrgyzstan appealed to the authorities of the two countries with a request to release the detained musician and return him to his homeland. He crossed the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border on January 10 at 6.40 p.m.
«All my evidence in the video is false. Bruises and scratches appeared on January 7, it was a harsh detention with the use of force,» the musician told journalists after arrival in Bishkek. Criminal cases have been initiated on the fact of detention and ill-treatment of Kyrgyzstanis Cholponbek Sydykov and Vikram Ruzakhunov, investigative measures are being taken.
