Subject to torture are not only adults...

On August 8 the website of the news agency “Asia-Plus” reported about the initiation of consideration of the appeal against the court ruling in a criminal case, well known as the “case of 53 Istaravshanies”, which were arrested in the connection with the suicide bomb attack in Sughd Province in 2010 and alleged membership in a banned extremist organization of IMU, who are mostly residents of Istaravshan district of Sughd Province.

The weekly “Samak” (№ 33 dated from 13 August) in the article “Consideration of the appeal on the case of the “istaravshanies” in Khujand”, recalled that last year, five of the 53 residents of Sughd, convicted of terrorist attacks on the Regional Department for Combating Organized Crime (ROBOP) in Khujand in 2010, received life sentences. Victims of the attack were 32 people, 4 of which - were killed.

The lawyer, Bakhtyor Nasrulloev, who defended six residents of Istaravshan from this group, told the radio “Ozodi” that he believes that the sentence is absolutely illegal. “As the court failed to prove anyone of hem to be guilty in the terroristic attack as well as their participation in the IMU. Their confessions were extracted through threats and torture during the investigation, which they had reported in the court, however the court did not take their statements into account”- the edition quoted the lawyer.

The same newspaper reported that Tamara Yusufova, a lawyer of another defendant in this case, Ilkhom Usmonov, noted that the sentence was announced behind the closed doors and without lawyers.

The case was monitored by local media and on August 21 at the website of “Asia-Plus” posted the news, which states that the defendants on the case of “53 istaravshanies” reported about the use of torture. Ultimately, the court decided to suspend the consideration of the case for conducting objective and impartial verification of the defendants’ arguments.

According to a news site with reference to a lawyer Abdurakhmon Sharipov, during the preliminary investigation on the fact of explosion, the defendants without any legal grounds were taken to the criminal prosecution. In their testimonies the defendants named specific places where they were illegally kept and tortured. In addition, the defendants named concrete police officers of the Istaravshan Police Police Department, officers of ROBOP MIA in Sughd and staff members of the Office of the State Committee for National Security in Sughd Province, who systematically used torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against them. In particular, they informed about the facts of being tortured by electric shocks, beaten with clubs in different parts of the body, doused with cold water in winter, and so on”- informed the lawyer.

“Asia-Plus” also reported that in support of their claims, the defendants demonstrated to the members of the appellate board parts of their bodies, with the signs of injury.

The issue of Ismonboy Boboev’s who dies on February 19, 2010, allegedly from torture after he was brought to the police station of Isfara, was again raised in the media.

On August 3, the “Asia Plus” reported that the UN Human Rights Committee has registered a complaint on behalf of Juraboy Boboev – father of Ismonboy Boboev. It was noted that the complaint was filed with the assistance of the Independent Center for Human Rights Protection.

The edition with reference to the Director of the organization, Sergey Romanov informed that the complaint was sent on July 9 this year on the violation of such articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as, the right to life, freedom from torture, the provision of effective remedies against Ismonboy Boboev.

Human rights activists also drew the Committee's attention to the ineffectiveness of domestic remedies, “as since the suspension of the criminal case 2 years were passed, and still the government has not brought the crime perpetrators to the criminal liability, although their names are known and there is nothing to stop the state agencies to prosecute these persons”.

On August 15 the Radio “Ozodi” (Radio of Liberty) reported that the staff of Isfara city court has lynched the 77-year old man who threw acid in the face of the judge in protest against his decision. “Immediately after the incident, the 77-year-old Zievaddin Juraev, and his son were severely beaten by members of the court. As a result, Juraev Sr. and his son, got rib fractures. Currently, my client is in jail without proper medical care”, - the Radio quoted Fayziniso Vohidova the lawyer.

Torture and ill-treatment affects not only the adults, but also children who are in conflict with the law. On August 31, the website of “Asia-Plus” news agency published the results of the monitoring “Torture and ill-treatment against children in the context of juvenile justice in Tajikistan”, conducted by the Child’s Rights Center.

The monitoring revealed the greatest number of violations of children's right to freedom from torture and ill-treatment during detention, in the police station where they are kept and interrogated.

The report brought the example of 17-year-old R.S. was arrested by police on suspicion of theft. According to R.S., she was hit in the head, threatened with rape, pulled up by her hair and then thrown violently to the floor. R.S. spent two days in the police station. Policemen did not notify girls’ parents about the fact of the arrest. The girl confessed after spending two days subjected to illegal methods of obtaining evidence and was released into the parents’ supervision. After she was called back for interrogation the girls had drunk vinegar and died in the hospital two days later”.

On the case the prosecutor's office of Dushanbe launched investigation in order to establish the fact that girl was tortured and to identify the relationship between torture and suicide of R.S. However, according to his mother, R.S., the girl was frightened by the fact that she will be again exposed to torture and ill-treatment by the members of the police department.

The Report brings the examples when children became victims of ill-treatment by staff of youth colony.