Human rights activists call on EU representatives to raise torture issues at EU-Tajikistan dialogue

The NGO Coalition against Torture in Tajikistan, the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation (Poland) and the International Partnership for Human Rights (Belgium) call on representatives of the European Union to raise the cases of Khoushvakht Qayumov, Shahbol Mirzoyev and Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev at today’s meeting with Tajik officials in Brussels, press release issued by the mentioned organizations on June 11 says.

Prison sentence of policeman who tortured the 17-year old Khoushvakht Qayumov reduced under prisoner amnesty.  On April 27, 2012, Mashraf Aliyev, then officer of Yovon district police in the southern Khatlon province, summoned Khoushvakht Qayumov from the village of Kulobod to the district police station, where he beat and kicked the young man and threatened to torture him with electric shock unless he confessed to a theft.  Khoushvakht Qayumov insisted he was innocent.  Mashraf Aliyev let him go home in the evening, but demanded that he return the next day.  On April 28, the beatings continued and Khoushvakht Qayumov eventually signed a “confession” in order to avoid further abuse.  Mashraf Aliyev threatened that Khoushvakht Qayumov would be beaten by 200 policemen if he later retracted his confession.  Devastated by the experience of abuse, Khoushvakht Qayumov decided to commit suicide.  On April 29, his relatives found him hanging from the ceiling of the family’s barn in an unconscious state.  They were able to save his life by quickly arranging for him to be taken to the local hospital. On April 30, 2012, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Yovon district opened a criminal case against Mashraf Aliyev for “torture” (Article 143-1, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan) and “exceeding official powers” (Article 316, part 1 of the Criminal Code).  On September 7, 2012, the Yovon district court found the officer guilty of committing these crimes and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment.  On the initiative of the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Tajikistan, the case was sent for additional investigation on February 19, 2013.  On December 11, 2013, the Qurghon Teppa city court found Mashraf Aliyev guilty of the crime of “torture” under Article 143-1, part 3 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan, which punishes torture that has severe consequences including to a person’s health. It sentenced Mashraf Aliyev to seven years’ imprisonment, to be served in a high-security penal colony.  In October 2014, a claim for 300,000 Somoni was lodged against the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan to compensate for moral damages suffered by Khoushvakht Qayumov as a result of torture.  The NGO Coalition against Torture in Tajikistan recently learnt that Mashraf Aliyev’s prison sentence was reduced to three years in early 2015 as a result of applying amnesty laws and on April 30, 2015, Sino district court in Dushanbe ordered that he be transferred to a settlement colony, a less strict type of colony than where he was held before, to serve the rest of his sentence.  In practice, however, he was released early for good conduct, lives at home and reports to the authorities once a week.

Torture compensation given to Shahbol Mirzoyev not commensurate with the harm suffered Shahbol Mirzoyev, who voluntarily enrolled for service in the Border Guards of Tajikistan in October 2013 after having finished his Commercial Law studies, was subjected to torture by medical and military personnel serving at a border guards unit, on March 6, 2014.  Usmon Ghayratov, a serviceman and medical attendant, harassed and attempted to humiliate the 22-year old Shahbol.  When the young man ignored the provocation, the medical attendant grabbed and threw him on his back on the floor.  As a result of the fall, he suddenly lost all sensation in his extremities.  When others noticed that Shahbol Mirzoyev was not moving they lifted him up three times, tried to stand him up on his feet, but the young man fell down and hit his head on the floor.  Then soldiers reportedly cut the soles of his feet with razor blades, pricked different parts of his body with needles, and poured boiling water over his back.  When they understood that Shahbol Mirzoyev was really unable to feel his extremities, they left him alone in the clinic.

Doctors of the National Medical Centre later diagnosed him with a fracture to the fifth spinal disk, damage to various organs, and the loss of sensitivity in his arms and legs.  Shahbol Mirzoyev had to be flown to Moscow because there are no specialists in Tajikistan for the operation he required.  In order to cover the expenses, his family sold their house.  Although the administration of the Border Guards of Tajikistan promised to cover all medical expenses, it only covered expenses incurred during his hospitalization at the National Medical Center in Tajikistan.  Shahbol Mirzoyev is now seriously disabled. He is able to sit in a wheel chair a maximum of two hours per day.  The rest of the time he has to lie down.  On June 19, 2014, the Military Court of Dushanbe sentenced Usmon Ghayratov to nine years’ imprisonment for “violating the code of military conduct” (Article 373, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan) and “leaving somebody in a dangerous situation” (Article 127, part 1) and ordered him to pay   8,000 Somoni to Shahbol Mirzoyev's relatives to compensate for moral damages, and 5,700 Somoni to cover Mirzoyev's treatment in hospital.  It also sentenced Gulrukhsor Shirinova, a servicewoman and medical attendant, to 18 months’ corrective labor for “negligent attitude to service” (Article 392 of the Criminal Code) and “violating the code of military conduct” (Article 373).  Additionally, it ordered that she pay 15 per cent of her salary to the government.  Gulrukhsor Shirinova was scheduled to be on duty in the medical unit the day Shahbol Mirzoyev was tortured, but she left the premises and put Usmon Ghayratov in charge of the unit although she was aware that Shahbol Mirzoyev was not safe.  The authorities did not conduct a thorough, impartial and independent investigation into whether the commanding officer of the Border Guards unit committed the crime of “negligence” by not preventing the torture of Shahbol Mirzoyev.

In November 2014, Shahbol Mirzoyev applied to the Military Court of Dushanbe seeking compensation for material and moral damages.  On May 25, 2015, the Court decided to award Shahbol Mirzoyev 97,265 Somoni (approx. 14,200 EUR) for material damages and 20,000 Somoni (approx. 2,900 EUR) for moral damages.  We believe that the amount of damages granted to Shahbol Mirzoyev for moral harm is incommensurate with the harm suffered and is not in line with Tajikistan’s obligations under international human rights law.  Article 14 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment stipulates that “each State Party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture (…) has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation.”

Twenty-five-year old Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev died in police custody in suspicious circumstances in April 2015.  Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev’s mother told the NGO Coalition against Torture in Tajikistan that in the evening of April 8, 2015, as his son was waiting in his car outside a shop in the Sino district of Dushanbe, three or four men in plainclothes suddenly opened the doors of his car, grabbed and handcuffed him without an explanation and beat him.  When several of his neighbors and a passer-by peacefully intervened, the men detached the handcuffs and left.  Later that evening, however, officers of the Drug Control Agency of Tajikistan came to the family’s apartment and detained him accusing him on drug-related crime.  Reportedly, they did not present an arrest warrant and took him to the building of the Drug Control Agency.  Among the detaining officers were the same men who had been in plainclothes earlier that evening and had abused Shamsiddin in his car.  On April 9, Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev’s mother visited him in the building of the Drug Control Agency.  She recalled: “When I petted his head he said I shouldn’t touch the back of his head because it was swollen and painful. I asked him in a low voice whether he was beaten and he nodded. “When she wanted to visit her son again on April 10 and 11 she was not given access under various pretexts.  In the evening of April 11, Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev’s reported to have received a phone call from the investigator’s telephone.  First Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev told her that the remand hearing had taken place that day, that he was charged with “selling small quantities of drugs“ (Article 200, part 1 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan) and that he needed a lawyer.  Then the investigator took the receiver and confirmed the information.  Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev’s mother hired a lawyer (who does not work for the Coalition against Torture).  When the two wanted to visit the young man in custody on April 12 they were unable to reach the investigator on the phone, after which they decided to try visiting him again the next day.  In Tajikistan lawyers are often only given access to their clients in police custody when the investigator permits them to do so.  Early on April 13, a neighbor of Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev’s parents told them that Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev was dead.  The neighbor had received the information from an official of the Drug Control Agency.  The parents later told the Coalition against Torture that when they saw his body in the morgue it was covered in bruises and they provided the Coalition with several photographs as evidence.  The same day the parents petitioned for a forensic medical examination to be conducted.  Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev’s parents hired a lawyer who cooperates with the Coalition against Torture because they wanted expert legal assistance in their struggle for justice.  On April 16, 2015, the parents lodged a complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office of Tajikistan and urged to conduct an effective investigation into their son’s death.  On April 25, the General Prosecutor’s Office opened criminal proceedings under Article 143-1 of the Criminal Code (“torture“).  On May 13, the parents and the lawyer were given access to the results of the forensic medical examination that was conducted after the autopsy.  The forensic medical expert concluded the cause of death was pneumonia.  The same day the lawyer petitioned the Prosecutor General’s Office for a new forensic medical examination and on May 14, the Prosecutor General’s Office ordered that an interdisciplinary forensic medical examination be conducted.  The exhumation was scheduled to take place on May 27 and the lawyer and Shamsiddin Zaydulloyev’s parents are waiting for the results.