The former deputy head of the Almaty Police Department was detained in the criminal case on torture of Kyrgyz musician Vikram Ruzakhunov. Kazakh media reported, citing the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
«As you know, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan is investigating a criminal case on the use of torture against citizens in January 2022 in a special detention center in the village of Koshmambet, Karasai district, Almaty region. As part of the criminal case, the former deputy head of the Almaty Police Department, B. Abilbekov, was detained on May 28,» the chief supervisory authority said in a statement.
Other details of the case have not been disclosed.
Together with Vikram Ruzakhunov, there are 22 other victims in the case, who survived torture after detention during the 2022 January events in Almaty.
Earlier, four police officers were detained as part of a criminal case on the torture of Kyrgyz musician Vikram Ruzakhunov.
- On January 9, 2022 social media and Kazakh TV channels showed a video, in which a man says that he came to Kazakhstan to participate in a rally in Almaty. It is said in the video that some people called the Kyrgyzstani on January 1 and offered to participate in the rally for $200. The man was identified 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.
- The musician admitted later that he was tortured. Criminal cases have been initiated on the fact of detention and ill-treatment of Kyrgyzstanis Cholponbek Sydykov and Vikram Ruzakhunov.
