Head of Torture Prevention Center presents review of detention center visits

Director of the National Center for Torture Prevention of the Kyrgyz Republic Nurdin Sulaimanov presented a review of the results of preventive visits to 42 detention centers throughout the country.

«Placement in custody as a preventive measure is applied by a court decision in respect of a person accused of committing crimes for which the law provides for punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty for more than three years, if no other milder measure of restraint is possible», Nurdin Sulaimanov says.

According to him, 554 people were in detention centers in the course of preventive visits to the centers, 172 of them were questioned. It turned out that 51.5 percent of them were not brought to criminal liability earlier. 17 percent were previously convicted, other 17 percent were also convicted earlier, but their convictions were removed, and in respect of 14.5 percent the decision on the measure of restraint was not taken at the time of the visit. The latter were kept in the detention centers for up to two days.

«It was found out that almost a half of those questioned in the detention centers have the status of the accused or defendants for minor crimes. In this connection, the question arises whether the judicial authorities, when choosing a preventive measure, take into account such a circumstance as the gravity of the incriminated act. And the fact that half of the detainees were not previously convicted, was not a mitigating circumstance when deciding on the measure of restraint,» the director of the National Center for Prevention of Torture stated.

According to Nurdin Sulaimanov, the use of a preventive measure in the form of detention is a strong mental impact on a person.