The UN Human Rights Committee issued a decision regarding a resident of Jalal-Abad city, singer Belek Kurmanbekov, declaring the fact of torture in Kyrgyzstan. Spravedlivost (Justice) human rights organization reported.
The Committee recognized that Kurmanbekov’s rights, including the rights to freedom and inviolability of the person, an effective investigation, not to be tortured and not to be forced to testify, have been violated.
The interests of the victim of torture, both at the national and international levels, were defended by a lawyer Utkir Jabbarov.
According to him, 20-year-old Belek Kurmanbekov was detained by 15 officers of the Jalal-Abad regional police department and the Aksy district police department at his house in Jalal-Abad on July 21, 2012. During the arrest, he was severely beaten, strangled and taken away in an unconscious state.
According to witnesses, in addition to him, his relatives were also beaten, who tried to intervene in what was happening: the mother with the II group disability, the detainee’s aunt and wife. The officers threatened Belek’s wife that she would be shaved and sent to prison, where she would be raped in turns, accusing her of complicity. In the presence of his wife, the policemen tortured Belek by putting a bag on his head.
«The day after the arrest, Belek Kurmanbekov was taken to the Aksy District Department of Internal Affairs, where he was charged with murder of a local resident, which, as the police claimed, was committed «out of hooligan motives.» During the interrogation by four investigators, Kurmanbekov was severely beaten in order to obtain a confession. He was hit in the stomach and head, and a plastic bag was put on his head. Neither the prosecutor’s office nor the courts of all instances recognized the fact of torture. We were forced to apply to the UN Human Rights Committee,» Utkir Jabbarov explained.
Belek Kurmanbekov was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He served six years and was granted pardon.
According to Utkir Jabbarov, he intends to seek execution of the decision of the UN Committee. That is, the cancellation of the verdict, initiation of a criminal case under the article «Torture» and the payment of compensation.
