Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Tajikistan.htm
|
|||||||||||
|
CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Tajikistan. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt
has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Whereabouts
Unknown: Tajik Government Critics Face Pressure, Forced Disappearances In
Russia Mirzonabi Kholiqzod
& Khiromon Baqozoda, RadioFreeEurope-Radio Liberty, 9 June 2021 www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-critics-missing-russia-disappearances/31297966.html?ltflags=mailer [accessed 9 June
2021] At least 15 Tajik activists
have disappeared in Russia in recent years, as Tajik officials hunt down
their critics both at home and abroad. Some of them have reappeared in Tajik
prisons, while the whereabouts of others remain unknown. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Tajikistan U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/tajikistan/
[accessed 9 August
2021] DISAPPEARANCE The government took
no action during the year in response to the preliminary findings of the UN Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which visited the country in
2019 for a general inspection. Following its visit, the Working Group noted
“little interest” on the part of the government in addressing violations, …, and noted reports of some political opponents whose
whereabouts were still unknown after being forcibly returned to the country. TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT According to the
2019 UN Human Rights Committee (OHCHR) concluding observations, reports of
beatings, torture, and other forms of coercion to extract confessions during
interrogations were of concern. During the first
six months the year, the Coalition against Torture, a group of local NGOs,
documented 25 new cases of mistreatment with some victims alleging severe
physical abuse. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS The government
operated 10 prisons, including one for women, and 12 pretrial detention
facilities. Exact conditions in the prisons remained unknown, but detainees and
inmates described harsh and life-threatening conditions, including extreme
overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
Defense lawyers alleged that prosecutors often held suspects for lengthy
periods and registered the initial arrest only when the suspect was ready to
confess. In most cases, pretrial detention lasted from one to three months
but could extend as long as 15 months. Law enforcement officials must request
an extension from a judge to detain an individual in pretrial detention after
two, six, and 12 months. According to the OHCHR concluding observations,
authorities tortured defendants in pretrial detention in attempts to extract
confessions. Tajikistan: Release
Gravely Ill Activist Human Rights Watch,
Almaty, 20 March 2019 www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/20/tajikistan-release-gravely-ill-activist [accessed 19 May
2019] Human Rights
Council, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, A/HRC/WGAD/2018, 10 May 2018 www.freedom-now.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Opinion-2-2018.pdf [accessed 19 May
2019] POLITICAL PRISONER
SAYS GUARDS BEAT HIM, REFUSED HIM MEDICINE During a visit on
March 9, 2019, Hayit showed his wife, Savrinisso Jurabekova, injuries
on his forehead and stomach that he said were caused by beatings from prison
officials to punish him for refusing to record videos denouncing Tajik
opposition figures abroad. Jurabekova said that her
husband said he was not getting adequate medical care, and they both fear he
may die in prison as a result of the beatings. Hayit
has spent more than three years in prison and is currently being held at
detention center (SIZO) number 1 in Dushanbe. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/tajikistan/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 18 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION
FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND
INSURGENCIES? People in
Tajikistan are subject to abuses by security forces and have no meaningful
opportunity for recourse. Detainees are frequently beaten in custody to extract
confessions. Overcrowding and disease contribute to often life-threatening
conditions in prisons. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] TAJIKISTAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND
TORTURE
- Torture is often used to coerce confessions and police and investigators
routinely deny detainees access to counsel in pretrial custody. On January
19, 34-year-old Umedjon Tojiev,
a member of the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, died in a
prison hospital in Khujand in northern Tajikistan.
His death followed serious injuries he sustained on November 2, 2013, after
allegedly jumping from the third floor window of a police station in the
northern city of Isfara. According to his lawyer
and relatives, Tojiev only leapt as he had been
subject to three days of torture by police, including electric shock,
asphyxiation with a plastic bag, severe beatings, and sleep deprivation. Authorities had arrested him on suspicion
of belonging to a banned Islamist organization. Tajikistan:
Shattered lives: Torture and other ill-treatment in Tajikistan Amnesty
International AI, 12 July 2012 - Index number: EUR 60/004/2012 www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur60/004/2012/en/ [accessed 15 January
2019] Download the Report
at www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/24000/eur600042012en.pdf [accessed 15 January
2019] In Tajikistan
people can be picked up off the streets, detained without formal charges, and
subjected to torture or other ill-treatment by police and national security
officials. Deaths after torture or other ill-treatment are not investigated
effectively. Officials are rarely punished and victims have no access to
effective remedy and reparation. This report calls on the authorities in
Tajikistan at all levels to comply with the country’s obligations under
international human rights law and to swiftly implement specific measures to
end torture and other ill-treatment. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/TJK/CO/1
(2006) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/tajikistan2006.html [accessed 10 March
2013] Torture 6. There are
numerous allegations concerning the widespread routine use of torture and
ill-treatment by law enforcement and investigative personnel, particularly to
extract confessions to be used in criminal proceedings. Further, there is an absence of preventive
measures to ensure effective protection of all members of society from
torture and ill treatment. Detention 7. The Committee is
also concerned at: (a) The lack of a
legal obligation to register detainees immediately upon loss of liberty,
including before their formal arrest and arraignment on charges, the absence
of adequate records regarding the arrest and detention of persons, and the
lack of regular independent medical examinations; (b) Numerous and
continuing reports of hampered access to legal counsel, independent medical
expertise and contacts with relatives in the period immediately following
arrest, due to current legislation and actual practice allowing a delay
before registration of an arrest and conditioning access on the permission or
request of officials; (c) Reports that
unlawful restrictions of access to lawyers, doctors and family by State
agents are not investigated or perpetrators duly punished; (d) The lack of
fundamental guarantees to ensure judicial supervision of detentions, as the Procuracy is also empowered to exercise such oversight; (e) The extensive
resort to pretrial detention that may last up to 15 months; and (f) The high number
of deaths in custody. Interrogation 15. There are
continuing and reliable allegations concerning the frequent use of
interrogation methods that are prohibited by the Convention by both law
enforcement officials and investigative bodies. Impunity 17. There is an
apparent lack of convictions under article 117 of the Criminal Code of public
officials or others acting in an official capacity for acts of torture and
ill-treatment and a very small number of convictions under domestic law for
violations of the Convention, despite numerous allegations of torture and
ill-treatment. Further, the Committee
is concerned about the fact that acts of torture and ill-treatment in the
years 1995 to 1999 were immunized from punishment by amnesty laws, thereby
entrenching impunity of those responsible for torture, and a lack of
reparation for the victims. Statements made as
a result of torture 19. There is a
reported failure of judges to dismiss or return cases for further
investigation in instances where confessions were obtained as a result of
torture, and numerous allegations of statements obtained as a result of
torture being used as evidence in legal proceedings. This is facilitated by the absence of
legislation expressly prohibiting the use of evidence obtained as a result of
torture in legal proceedings. Human Rights in
Tajikistan Human Rights Watch [accessed 14
February 2013] In January 2011, authorities
prosecuted and convicted two law enforcement officers after a man died in
custody, but torture remains an enduring problem in Tajikistan. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
- After his visit in May, the UN Special Rapporteur stated that torture and
other ill-treatment “happens often… in a wide variety of settings”. In November, the UN
Committee against Torture noted “numerous and consistent allegations … of
routine use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects, principally to extract
confessions … primarily during the first hours of interrogation in police
custody as well as in temporary and pre-trial detention facilities run by the
State Committee of National Security (SCNS) and the Department for the Fight
against Organized Crime.” Children, elderly
people and witnesses in criminal cases reported instances of torture and
other ill-treatment. Torture methods included the use of electric shocks,
boiling water, suffocation, beatings, and burning with cigarettes. There were
reports of rape and threats of rape in relation to female and male detainees,
as well as psychological torture. Most instances of
torture and other ill-treatment occurred before the suspect was registered at
a police station. Suspects were not informed of their rights (to see a
lawyer, to notify family or to remain silent) until the detention was
registered. This should happen within three hours of being taken to a police
station, but in practice often happened much later. There were cases of incommunicado detention for several days or even weeks
before registration. Sherik Karamhudoev, head of the opposition group the Islamic
Renaissance Party in Khorog, GBAO, disappeared on
24 July during the clashes. His whereabouts were only made known to his
family on 8 August, and he was not allowed to see his defence
lawyers for nearly two months. He was reportedly tortured while in the SCNS
detention centre in Dushanbe. He was charged with
organizing a criminal group and illegal possession of firearms. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=tajikistan+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 15 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61679.htm [accessed 14
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61679.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, government security officials reportedly
employed them. Torture occurred
during the year. Security officials, particularly from the Ministry of
Interior (MOI), continued touse systematic
beatings, sexual abuse, and electric shock to extort confessions during interrogations.
During the year several alleged members of Hizb Ut-Tahrir (HT), an extremist Islamist political
organization, and members of their families claimed they were tortured and
beaten while in police custody (see sections 1.d. and 2.b.). Beatings and
mistreatment were also common in pretrial detention facilities, and the
government took minimal action against those responsible for the abuses (see
Section 1.d.). Yoribek Ibrohimov
"Shaykh" and Muhammadruzi
Iskandarov both stated police beat them and
subjected them to electric shocks while they were in custody. The
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) monitors were
unable to investigate claims of torture against them and their associates and
the government did not launch an official investigation. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/tajikistan [accessed 14
February 2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] The judiciary lacks
independence. Many judges are poorly trained and inexperienced, and bribery
is reportedly widespread. Occasional high-profile anticorruption campaigns
have had little real impact. Police often conduct arbitrary arrests and beat
detainees to extract confessions. Conditions in prisons—which are overcrowded
and disease-ridden—are often life-threatening. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
Tajikistan", http://gvnet.com/torture/Tajikistan.htm, [accessed
<date>] |
