Take action: Click against torture in Central Asia

Participate in our quick online action to support victims of torture in Central Asia and share the action with your friends

To mark this year’s United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, International Partnership for Human Rights (Belgium), Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland) and Central Asian human rights groups launched an online action that will run until the end of July 2016.

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CASE 1: BROTHERS IHOM AND RAHIM IBODOV FROM UZBEKISTAN – INVESTIGATE ALLEGED TORTURE AND DEATH IN CUSTODY!

Brothers Rahim and Ilhom Ibodov were businessmen running a car accessories business in Bukhara, central Uzbekistan. In recent years officials of the local National Security Services and others reportedly extorted bribes from the brothers in exchange for letting them run their business, an arrangement that is reportedly common in the business sector of Uzbekistan. When the brothers fell out with these officials over the financial arrangements and threatened to expose them, they were arrested on 16 August 2015 and accused of financial crimes.

Rahim and Ilhom Ibodov were held in a temporary detention centre (IVS) at the Bukhara City Department of Internal Affairs for 25 days and were not allowed to speak to a lawyer for three weeks. During this time four fellow inmates beat the brothers every day and told them that they were acting on official orders in order to force them to provide false testimony. On 12 September, two days after being transferred to an SNB pre-trial investigation facility (SIZO), Rahim reportedly saw how his brother was beaten to death by three high-ranking SNB officers in the cell opposite. Ilhom’s body was returned to his family on 13 September for burial. They took photos and videos documenting injuries all over his body. On 11 November 2015 the family was given a death certificate stating that Ilhom had died of a heart attack. On 15 February 2016 Bukhara City Court sentenced Rahim to eight years‘ imprisonment based on evidence allegedly extracted under duress. The authorities failed to conduct an effective investigation into the the circumstances of his death and allegations that the brothers were severely beaten. Ilhom and Rahim’s relatives have been repeatedly threatened with reprisals for speaking out about the case. (See more below)

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CASE 2: RASIM BAYRAMOV FROM KAZAKHSTAN – URGENTLY IMPLEMENT UN COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE’S DECISION!

Photo: Anastasia Miller
Photo: Anastasia Miller

2016 Rasim Bayramov, aged 33, tragically died of complications resulting from an illness he contracted in prison. He had been fighting to prove his innocence for almost eight years.

In July 2008 police officers kicked and beat Rasim and threatened to sexually abuse him if he did not confess to having stolen money and three bottles of beer from a local store. Although he and his mother lodged complaints with the authorities, the allegation that his confession was extracted under torture was not investigated and he served three years’ imprisonment for theft.

When the UN Committee against Torture considered his case in 2014 it accepted that Rasim Bayramov had been tortured by police officers and urged the Kazakhstani authorities to carry out a swift and effective investigation. However, the perpetrators continue to walk free and justice remains as elusive as ever. (See more below)

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CASE 3: THOROUGHLY AND IMPARTIALLY INVESTIGATE ALLEGATIONS THAT ELMIRA ZHAMANGARAEVA, MAKSAT IMANALIEV AND KUBAT JOLDOSHBEK UULU FROM KYRGYZSTAN WERE ILL-TREATED BY POLICE!

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Elmira Zhamangaraeva, Maksat Imanaliev and Kubat Joldoshbek Uulu told the NGO Voice of Freedom that in February 2015 armed police in plainclothes suddenly jumped over the fence and burst into their house in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. Police reportedly beat them and put a gun to Maksat Imanaliev’s head. Reportedly, they continued beating the two men after taking them to the police station of Bishkek’s Sverdlovsk District. Kubat Joldoshbek Uulu said that police forced him to sign a confession about the murder of a woman, which he maintains he did not commit.

To date, no effective investigation has been conducted into the allegations. A prosecutor of Sverdlovsk District has twice issued a decision not to institute criminal proceedings in the “absence of evidence of a crime“ and the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kyrgyzstan has twice cancelled his decision. In May 2016 the case was referred back to Sverdlovsk Distric Prosecutor’s Office. So far, prosecutors have not questioned or conducted any other investigative activities involving Elmira Zhamangaraeva, Maksat Imanaliev and Kubat Joldoshbek Uulu in order to shed light on what happened in February 2015.

We believe that a criminal case should be opened and special prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kyrgyzstan should themselves conduct the investigation and ensure that it is carried out effectively. (See more below)

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See also: Supporting victims of torture in Central Asia on International Anti-Torture Day