“They took him into a room, tied him with ropes and beat him for two hours”

On January 5, photographer and masseur Sayat Adilbekuly went to the pharmacy to get medicine: his daughter had a fever. Sayat did not have time to reach the pharmacy - they shot him, hitting the kidney. On the same day he underwent surgery. Sayat fully regained consciousness only on the seventh of January. The next day, people in black masks and helmets, with machine guns and pistols, burst into his ward.

Together with other victims of the protests, Adilbekuly was dragged out into the street and laid face down on the asphalt. So they lay for about 20 minutes - after that they were loaded into police wagons.

“We, 18 people, were stuffed into one paddy wagon, in a small cage, and driven around the city, beating along the way for any sounds and questions like: “Who are you? Where are you taking us?" They beat me with batons and rifle butts,” says Adilbekuly.

From January 8 to 25, he was in a pre-trial detention center. There, the beatings continued: “They went into the cell for 15-20 minutes and beat me. They said that we were terrorists and rapists, that we smashed and killed. This happened every day from 8 to 17 January.”

We, 18 people, were stuffed into one paddy wagon, in a small cage, and driven around the city, beating us for any sounds along the way.

He and other men were allowed to sign the detention protocol only on January 12, although they were brought from the hospital to the pre-trial detention center on January 8.

Adilbekuly was accused of participating in riots. He completely denies guilt.

Together with Adilbekuly, Akylzhan Kiysymbaev was detained. He came to Almaty from Pavlodar to work as a welder, happened to be at the protests when he was going to work, and then - in the same ward with Adilbekuly. Kiysymbaev told The Insider that on his first day in the pre-trial detention center he was taken to a "torture room", where his hands were tied with two ropes and beaten for two hours. Kiysymbaev was required to sign a confession that he was a "Wahabbi". Kiysymbaev refused.

“Employees burst into the ward and started beating with a crutch”

Thirty-year-old Nurtai Kazhgaliev arrived in Almaty in early January to work: in his native Uralsk, despite his technical education, he failed to find a decent job. On January 5, according to Kazhgaliev, he was looking for a store to buy food there - and then he was wounded. The city emergency hospital (BSMP) responded to a request from his lawyer Galym Nurpeisov with a diagnosis: a gunshot wound to the right thigh, concussion, bruises, facial abrasions.

“Two bullets hit him. He woke up in the hospital, says the lawyer. “One bullet was removed, the second was to be removed two days later.”

On January 9, employees burst into Kazhgaliyev's ward and started beating him with a crutch. Then they took him out into the corridor and continued to beat him there. Beatings and humiliation, according to Kazhgaliyev, continued in the pre-trial detention center until January 15th.

The BSMP's response to a lawyer's request states that "there was no life-threatening condition during the transfer," but "the patient needed aftercare." Despite this, Kazhgaliyev was taken out in the presence of an employee of the Department of the National Security Committee (DKNB) along with sixteen other patients. A few months ago, Azattyk published an eyewitness video showing SOBR fighters taking away wounded people.

According to Nurpeisov, a 61-year-old man testified against Kazhgaliev: “Allegedly, on January 6, Kazhgaliev threatened him with a hard drive in the Kalkaman area. Although he, even according to the papers, was lying with a bullet wound in the hospital that day. They had a line-up and a confrontation even before I got down to business. The investigator told me: your client will “go under the ceiling”, that is, they will hang everything on him. But the response of the BSMP clearly states that Kazhgaliyev was hospitalized from the fifth to the ninth of January and stupidly could not threaten anyone with firearms on the sixth of January.”

Kazhgaliyev is accused of participating in riots. The criminal case has not been closed, but the measure of restraint has been changed.

“They beat me on the head and kidneys, forced me to confess to stealing weapons”

Darkhan Ualiyev, a 45-year-old taxi driver, father of three, and political activist, helped wounded security forces on January 5. On this day, in the area of ​​Republic Square in Almaty, unknown persons clashed with SOBR and National Guardsmen. Valiyev tried to negotiate with the police near the Police Department so that they would release the administratively arrested political activists, his associates. He hoped that their presence would help to deal with the chaos that reigned in some places near the square.

Unlike many who were on the streets during the January days, Ualiyev was an experienced activist: before that, he received a year of restriction of freedom on charges of participation in the extremist organization Koshe Partiisy, which was recognized as extremist due to peaceful rallies and pickets.

On January 10, Ualiev arrived at the Almaty morgue after learning that his older brother Aslan had been killed. Near the morgue, Ualiyev was detained and taken to the Police Department.

“There, a hail of blows began to rain down on me. Since my hat was also lowered over my eyes and my hands were fastened in handcuffs, and this employee was pulling me by the hood of my jacket, I could not see anything but the floor and my leg,” says Ualiev in his letters. “Therefore, I couldn’t dodge or expect someone to hit me. Blows rained down from all sides and hit all over the body. Then I felt that I was being dragged up the stairs, this did not change anything regarding the beatings. At one point, I was again taken down the corridor, where the beatings continued. Since my torturer announced to everyone he met that he was a “negotiator”, they stopped me and put me against the wall, where this person could slowly torture me. At one point, I remember the stairs again, and somewhere between 4-5 floors, someone kicked me on the back of the head, from which I hit my head on the stairs and lost consciousness. I woke up from a strong electric discharge with a stun gun. I was lying in the same place where I lost consciousness.

A pre-trial investigation is currently underway on Ualiyev's allegations of torture. He himself is in jail.

“Someone kicked me in the back of the head, from which I hit my head on the stairs and lost consciousness”

At a peaceful rally on April 24 in Almaty, Ualiyev's wife, Bulbul Berdykozhanova, was detained - there she demanded to release her husband and conduct a fair investigation into the torture he claimed. Together with Berdykozhanova, Bayan Shirinbekova, a mother of two minor children with epilepsy, was detained.

Shirinbekova's husband, Alibek Imanbekov, is accused of stealing weapons. Imanbekov does not admit guilt and in his statement (available to The Insider) claims that he was forced to admit that he “in a group of persons, by prior agreement, stole two hunting rifles by entering the store.” Imanbekov himself claims that he picked up the gun on January 5 near the Almaty Central Department Store, where "many people were robbing stores." According to him, he was passing by with three acquaintances. Because of the traffic jam, they got out of the car.

“At one point, a man ran past me with several guns in his hands. Some time later, on the sidewalk, I saw a gun lying on the ground,” Imanbekov said in a statement. - I did not want this gun to fall into the hands of brutal people, as it seemed to me that they were planning something bad. I quickly picked up this gun and got into the car. B came running after me and got into the car. B. also had a gun in his hands, which, according to him, he also found on the street. Since there were riots and looting in the city, we all mutually decided to temporarily leave these guns in a safe place, in the hairdressing salon of our mutual friend named A., and after restoring law and order in the city, hand them over to the police. Having phoned A. in advance and having received his permission, we left these guns and went home. In the following days, until January 11, 2022, I was at home, guarding my family, consisting of a sick mother (oncology), a sick wife (epilepsy) and two minor children. At the same time, I called the 102 console several times to report the guns found during the riots and looting, however, no one answered the calls. Then I realized that the police did not function as a body these days.

Imanbekov was detained on January 11, when he went to a friend's salon. There, according to him, they were met by operational police officers and started beating and kicking in the face and body. After that, the men were taken to the building of the Almaly District Police Department, where they were forcibly kept in cells and offices - without food and normal conditions.

“They were met by operational police officers and began to beat with fists and kicks in the face and body”

“We were beaten all the time on the head, kidneys and legs,” Imanbekov writes. “They forced me to lie on the dirty and cold floor for hours, with my hands crossed in handcuffs. Despite the fact that I told them the truth, they wanted to hear from me a confession that I, in a group of persons, by prior conspiracy, entered a gun store and stole two guns, which in fact did not happen.

In the end, according to his statement, Imanbekov was forced to admit his guilt. He was threatened that otherwise he would be accused of terrorism.

"Pulling out teeth with pliers"

Among those detained and complained of torture were thirteen minors, says Roza Akylbekova, coordinator of the NGO Coalition of Kazakhstan against Torture, deputy director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR).

“The guy [in the Almaty pre-trial detention center] was very scared, he had post-traumatic syndrome on his face, his behavior spoke of the torture he had experienced. He told me that he did not even know that he had a lawyer for state free legal aid,” recalls Akylbekova.

In Taldykorgan, a seventeen-year-old native of the Almaty region was tried to have his teeth pulled out with pliers: “They pulled out absolutely healthy teeth, they couldn’t pull them out, because the teeth are root. But now they are loosened, so new false teeth and implants are needed. Many do not believe, but he himself showed us.”

“The guy in the pre-trial detention center was very scared, he had post-traumatic syndrome on his face, his behavior spoke of experienced torture”

Other detainees and arrested minors complained that they were beaten, kicked with berets and burned with an iron.

Today, according to Akylbekova, the measure of restraint was changed for all of them, but the charges were not dropped. Most minors are charged under Articles 291 (theft or extortion of weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices) and 287 (Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices) of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan.

Initially, eight minors reported torture in Taldykorgan, then their number was reduced to six, and today, according to Akylbekova, there are only three left: “They are offered to take the blame for offenses that, as they previously stated, were knocked out under torture. In exchange for a refusal to make a statement about torture, they change part of the article, they are promised a restriction of freedom, not deprivation. Naturally, everyone wants to remain free and freedom is more important to them, and not to prove torture.”

“The investigator said – since they didn’t burn me with an iron and didn’t pour boiling water over me, then this is not torture.”

In March, authorities announced 243 criminal cases of torture. “In all criminal cases, an investigation plan has been drawn up, which contains a set of investigative and operational measures. Many applicants point to police officers who were wearing masks and helmets, that is, they did not even see their faces and do not know their names. Now the investigation is bit by bit, according to the testimonies of the applicants and eyewitnesses, the surviving records from the surveillance cameras, restoring the January events. This work is complicated by the fact that many cameras did not function or were damaged during the riots themselves,” said Olzhas Bektenov, head of the anti-corruption service.

Bektenov believes that these injuries could have been received directly in street riots:

“Therefore, the investigative actions are also aimed at establishing a time period for the applicants to receive bodily injuries. The necessary forensic examinations have been appointed for all criminal cases. It is now known that 46 applicants were found to have light bodily injuries, and 6 of moderate severity. At the same time, no injuries were found in 25 persons.

In early April, Yeldos Kilymzhanov, deputy head of the first service of the Kazakh Prosecutor General's Office, announced that special prosecutors were investigating ten cases of illegal methods of investigation. According to him, nine law enforcement officers were detained - eight KENB officers and one policeman.

Later, on April 25, he also stated that "some applicants used complaints of torture as a line of defense to discredit and declare inadmissible the evidence collected against them."

At the same time, there are cases that can be assessed as obstructing the work of lawyers representing the interests of survivors of torture. A striking example is the case of 38-year-old Azamat Batyrbaev. At the end of January, his photographs appeared - hematomas and burns are visible on the body. Relatives stated that Batyrbaev was beaten and burned with an iron in the building of the Police Department of the Almaty Region. One security officer was taken into custody, but Baurzhan Azanov, Batyrbayev's lawyer, is sure that other police officers should be arrested as well. “He couldn’t burn it with an iron alone, right? Someone had to hold his legs and arms,” says Azanov.

The lawyer twice filed relevant petitions - once in February and once in April - but they were ignored. “I have been dealing with torture cases for twelve years, and they rarely reach court. In our social networks, they like to say that it is necessary to toughen the punishment for this crime, but in fact, we need to make sure that such cases go to court more often, ”he emphasizes.

Now the interdepartmental investigative group, which is investigating the January events in Taldykorgan, has sent a proposal to Azanov's bar association to bring him to disciplinary responsibility. The lawyer connects this with the fact that he “complained against their actions everywhere and everywhere”, and demands to punish them and remove them. “The fact that they turned to my native board suggests that this is their way of attacking me,” the lawyer said.

The lawyer of Nurtai Kazhgaliyev, who was taken out of the ambulance by the security forces on January 9, also speaks of obstruction of his work:

“I came to Kazhgaliyev a month after his arrest. Then he still had traces of beatings, and when he came out, everything had already healed on him. I sent a petition to Antikor to request medical materials when he was admitted to the isolation ward. This is a medical card, video recording, acts of personal examination. They said that they claimed everything and everything is there, but they didn’t show me. Three or four investigators [Anticora] changed there. No matter how much I tried to get these materials, they did not give me, and then it turned out that they were in the city prosecutor's office. I perceive this as an obstacle to advocacy.”

Sayat Adilbekuly is also dissatisfied with the course of the investigation into his allegation of torture. In an interview with The Insider, he said: that the investigator Antikora, in a conversation with him, doubted the prospects of the case. “The investigator told me that they didn’t burn me with an iron and didn’t douse me with boiling water, which means that it would be difficult to consider this torture and bring it to court.”

On April 21, the Qantar Foundation held a press conference during which the lawyers announced the delay in investigations into cases of torture, injuries and murders. “Now we can conclude that the events of January and the reaction of law enforcement and judicial authorities to them are inadequate. Lawyers who try to represent individuals in criminal cases point out that not all of these criminal cases are properly investigated. There are facts of red tape, when cases related to gunshot wounds hang out between government agencies. While the case is between the authorities, the evidence is lost,” said Daniyar Kanafin, coordinator of the group of lawyers.

The reason is the absence of an independent investigative body, says Tatyana Chernobyl, a human rights activist and expert of the NGO coalition against torture:

“Torture is investigated by those who are somehow interested in a positive outcome for the state of their investigation. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about objectivity even theoretically. Especially in such a situation, as with the January events, when practically all those officially or more often actually detained were tortured, they were tortured cruelly and with a sense of complete impunity. Finding the perpetrators would mean, as the authorities must imagine, jeopardizing the reputation of law enforcement agencies. But where is more? On the contrary, the way out would be to investigate objectively, with a willingness to accept and bear responsibility.”

Source: THE INSIDER