Torture resulting in end of pregnancy, impunity and internment under police surveillance

Geneva, 12 December 2006.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has received new information and requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Kyrgyzstan.

New Information:

The International Secretariat of OMCT has received new information from the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR), a member of the SOS-Torture Network, regarding to the case of Ms. Rukiya Ibragimova, arrested and subjected to torture by a policeman on 20 July and 26 August 2006 in Jalal-Abad.

According to the information received, Ms. Ibragimova is still under police surveillance at the Kyzyl-Jar Hospital and accused of “concealment of a terrorist”. However, she still has not had access to legal counselling and she has not received adequate medical treatment after the beatings inflicted on her and the loss of her baby.

Moreover, she is considered by the Kyrgyz authorities as insane and on this basis she has not been allowed to lodge any complaint regarding the acts torture and ill-treatment inflicted by the chief of the Regional Department of Internal Affairs, Mr. Kubanychbek Torobaev, during the time of her arrest and at the Kyzyl-Jar Hospital.

OMCT is gravely concerned by the physical and psychological condition of Ms Rukiya Ibragimova as well as the lack of consideration of her case by the Kyrgyz authorities.

Brief reminder of the situation:

On 20 July 2006, Ms. Rukiya Ibragimova, 20 years old and 10 weeks pregnant, was arrested at the Isolation Ward of Temporary Allowance (IVS) of Jalal-Abad. She was reportedly beaten by a police officer, Kubanychbek Torobaev, in order to force her to denounce her husband, Mr. Djamaliddin Abderashitov, suspected of involvement with an extremist organisation called “Islamic movements of Uzbekistan”.

Ms. Ibragimova was subsequently taken to the Kyzyl-Jar psychiatric hospital, where she was once again severely beaten on the 26 August 2006 by Kubanychbek Torobaev. She was immediately transferred to the gynaecologic department of the Tash-Kumyr city hospital. There, the doctors certified that her foetus was dead.

It is worth noting that her husband, Mr. Djamaliddin Abderashitov, surrendered to the police immediately after he learned that his wife had been tortured.

Action Requested:

Please continue to write to the authorities in Kyrgyzstan urging them to:

1. Ensure the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Rukiya Ibragimova, including her access to adequate medical treatment;
2. Order the immediate release in the absence if valid criminal charges, and if such charges exist, ensure that she is given a prompt and fair trial, in which her procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
3. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the ill-treatment of Ms. Rukiya Ibragimova in order to identify all those responsible and to bring them to justice and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law, especially article 305-1 of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code;
4. Guarantee the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards, particularly the Convention against Torture.

Addresses:

• Mr. Bakiev Kurmanbek Salievich, President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzskaya Respublika, 720003 g. Bishkek, Prospekt Chuy, 205, Fax: 996 312 218 627, Email: ghpress2@rhl.bishkek.su
• Mr. Kulov Felix Sharshenbaevich, Vice Prime Minister, Fax: 996 312 218 627
• Mr. Marat Sutalinov, Minister of the Interior, Fax: 996 312 663 031, 996 312 288 788
• Mr. Mamyrov Erkin, Minister of Justice, Fax: 996 312 663 044 / 996 312 65 65 02
• Mr. Azimbek Beknazarov, General Prosecutor of the Kyrgyz Republic, Fax: 996 312 665 411
• Colonel Nurlan Temirbaev, Head of the Oblast Department of Internal Affairs, Jalal-Abad, Fax: +996 3722 503 33
• Mr. Abdibakit Halmurzaev, Oblast Prosecutor's office, Jalal-Abad, Fax: + 996 3722 501 19
• Permanent mission of Kyrgyzstan, Rue Maunoir 26, 1207 Geneva, Switzerland, Email: kyrgyzmission@bluewin.ch, Fax : +41 22 707.92.21

Please also write to the embassies of Kyrgyzstan in your respective country.

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Geneva, 12 December 2006.

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.