Kyrgyzstan misses the opportunity to appeal to the UN on the use of torture and ill-treatment of residents of Batken by the military and law enforcement agencies of Tajikistan. Bakyt Rysbekov, director of the National Center for Prevention of Torture, stated at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on constitutional legislation, state structure, judicial, legal issues and regulations.
He noted that 10 citizens of Kyrgyzstan were taken hostage by the Tajik side during the military aggression in April 2021.
«We met with the residents of Batken after their liberation, filled out the Istanbul protocol. The National Center stated that the citizens of Kyrgyzstan were subjected to ill-treatment by the military and tortured by the Tajik police. But we miss the opportunity to appeal to the UN Committee for Prevention of Torture. Article 21 of this committee gives such a right to Kyrgyzstan. In addition, according to Article 22, a country can declare and file a complaint against another country about the use of torture against its citizen,» Bakyt Rysbekov said.
The military of Tajikistan took 10 citizens of Kyrgyzstan hostage in Leilek district on April 29 and April 30. They were released only on May 1 after the reconciliation of the parties.
