Torture accepted police technique in Tajikistan

By NARGIS ZOKIROVA

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — “There’s no other way of getting a confession out of them,” said the investigator, who spoke on the condition that his name not be used, when asked why he beat a criminal suspect.

“The detainees are often very insolent and they even threaten us. It’s hard to restrain oneself in such cases,” he said. “Seems to me any criminal deserves it. Next time he’ll think twice before breaking the law.”

Welcome to the justice system in Tajikistan, where there are regular reports of detainees being subjected to physical assault by members of the police and other law-enforcement agencies. Torture and other forms of mistreatment are against the law in Tajikistan, and are also prohibited under the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

But senior police and prosecution figures, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledge that torture and other forms of abuse are used to extract confessions from suspects.

One prosecutor in the capital Dushanbe said instances of torture were “isolated cases, which are immediately investigated the moment they are reported to a district prosecutor’s office.” Others have their doubts.

Delayed access to clients

One problem is that lawyers often do not have access to their clients until hours and even days after their arrests. In some cases, suspects are held for prolonged periods before they are officially considered in police custody.

“That’s precisely the period in which torture and other prohibited methods of investigation may be used on the detained person,” said Qayum Yusufov, a lawyer who is a member of Dushanbe’s bar association.

Human-rights groups say it’s not uncommon for suspects to be subjected to both physical and psychological abuse by police hoping to extract a confession. In some instances, suspects confess to crimes they have not committed merely to make the abuse stop.

The common belief among most law-enforcement officials, on the other hand, is that all suspects are guilty and deserve what’s coming to them.

When Khurshed Islamov was arrested in February on suspicion of robbing a casino, his family was told he would be released the same evening. Instead, his parents were shocked when they learned that Islamov had confessed to the crime.

“Khurshed told me that they used electric shocks on his body during interrogation,” said Atty. Mashhur Ghhaziev, who was denied access to his client until after he confessed. “This went on for five days. He was finally forced to confess.” Police deny that they tortured Islamov and say that two other suspects identified him as the ringleader of the robbery gang.

Torture

In 2006, Ibodullo Nosirov was arrested on suspicion of murdering a 16-year-old girl. He quickly confessed and, upon appeal, was sentenced to prison for 30 years. Nosirov’s relatives insist he was tortured into confessing. His elder brother, Davlat, says Nosirov was beaten with rubber truncheons over the course of a week. But the final straw may have come when Nosirov’s wife, Jamila, was beaten by police officers while she was visiting her husband. The authorities later falsely convinced Nosirov that his wife had divorced him and married her cousin.

He quickly signed a confession.

So far, no national or international human-rights group has been allowed to investigate the charges of abuse.

X Nargis Zokirova is a reporter in Tajikistan who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune.