Businessman Alleges Torture

Provide Medical Treatment, Ensure Justice for Abuse

Kazakh author­i­ties should pro­vide imme­di­ate med­ical assis­tance to a detained busi­ness­man who has alleged that he was beat­en and ill-treat­ed, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Human Rights Watch said today. Authorities should also ensure that their inves­ti­ga­tion into the alle­ga­tions of ill-treat­ment and tor­ture of the busi­ness­man, Iskander Erimbetov, is swift, impar­tial, and thor­ough, and capa­ble of bring­ing those respon­si­ble for abuse to account.

“The dis­turb­ing accounts of Mr. Erimbetov’s case cast doubt on Astana’s com­mit­ment to tack­le tor­ture and oth­er ill-treat­ment,” said Bjørn Engesland, sec­re­tary-gen­er­al of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. “Astana should imme­di­ate­ly pro­tect Erimbetov from fur­ther abuse and pro­vide him with all nec­es­sary med­ical attention.”

Erimbetov, 46, was arrest­ed on November 13, 2017, as a sus­pect in a mon­ey-laun­der­ing inves­ti­ga­tion tied to an exiled for­mer banker and gov­ern­ment crit­ic, Mukhtar Ablyazov. An Almaty court has autho­rized Erimbetov’s deten­tion until at least March 13, when it will review whether it should be extended.

At news con­fer­ences on December 7 and 21, and January 10, 2018, Erimbetov’s par­ents expressed alarm about the con­di­tions in which Erimbetov is being held and alleged that he was being ill-treat­ed. His moth­er, Gaini Erimbetova, who is also Erimbetov’s lay pub­lic defend­er, filed a com­plaint with the prosecutor’s office on January 11, alleg­ing her son had been beat­en and injured in custody.

On January 12, Kazakhstan’s Anti-Torture Coalition, a body con­sist­ing of 40 human rights groups and inde­pen­dent experts, issued an urgent state­ment call­ing on Kazakh author­i­ties to inves­ti­gate Erimbetov’s claims of ill-treat­ment and torture.

On January 22, the Almaty City Prosecutor’s Office opened a crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion into the allegations.

Erimbetova told the Norwegian Helsinki Committee that when she met with her son on January 11, his face was bruised and swollen, and that opendemocracy he had a wound on his fore­head, with coag­u­lat­ed blood. She said she also saw bruis­es on her son’s arms and legs and that he appeared to be in “con­sid­er­able pain, con­tin­u­ous­ly held one hand to his side and com­plained about headaches and dizziness.”

Erimbetov’s lawyer, Zhanara Balgabaeva, con­firmed to Human Rights Watch that Erimbetov had bruis­es on his face, appeared to have suf­fered a con­cus­sion, and was hold­ing his ribs, com­plain­ing of pain. Balgabaeva told Human Rights Watch that she feared for Erimbetov’s safety.

In a state­ment issued on February 2, inde­pen­dent human rights defend­ers Yevgeniy Zhovtis, head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, and Zhemis Turmagambetova, head of the Charter for Human Rights, who vis­it­ed Erimbetov in deten­tion at the invi­ta­tion of the Kazakh gov­ern­ment, said they found him to be in “in a state of extreme deject­ed­ness, scared.”

The gov­ern­ment ini­ti­at­ed the mon­i­tor­ing vis­it after offi­cials received an urgent com­mu­ni­ca­tion from the United Nations spe­cial rap­por­teur on tor­ture, Nils Melzner, about the alleged abuse of Erimbetov, accord­ing to the defend­ers’ state­ment. The defend­ers expressed “grave con­cern about the sit­u­a­tion in which Mr. Erimbetov finds him­self” and said that Erimbetov “essen­tial­ly con­firmed the infor­ma­tion con­tained in the spe­cial rapporteur’s inquiry.”

The mon­i­tor­ing team told the author­i­ties that giv­en Mr. Erimbetov’s state of health, “he be pro­vid­ed with emer­gency med­ical assis­tance, includ­ing, pos­si­bly, plac­ing him in a med­ical ward and an exam­i­na­tion by a med­ical professional.”

Balgabaeva told Human Rights Watch on February 15 that Erimbetov had received intra­venous drips and med­ica­tion for four days, but had not been trans­ferred to a med­ical unit, or under­gone a full med­ical exam­i­na­tion. The Kazakh author­i­ties should swift­ly ensure that Erimbetov receives a full med­ical exam­i­na­tion by an inde­pen­dent doc­tor and any treat­ment med­ical­ly rec­om­mend­ed, Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee said.

Over the past two months, Erimbetova has repeat­ed­ly report­ed to the media and on her Facebook page that Erimbetov has been ill-treat­ed in deten­tion and that offi­cials have pres­sured Erimbetov to con­fess. Erimbetova described to the Norwegian Helsinki Committee efforts by the author­i­ties to force Erimbetov to incrim­i­nate him­self. When he refused, she said, offi­cials placed him in a cell with four oth­er detainees who beat Erimbetov, includ­ing with a wood­en stick wrapped in a wet tow­el, and threat­ened to rape him with a broom­stick. At one point the cell­mates appar­ent­ly attempt­ed to force Erimbetov’s head into a buck­et of excre­ment, and on one occa­sion they choked him with a cord.

Balgabaeva said that dur­ing ques­tion­ing on January 13, Erimbetov said he did not feel well and that deten­tion offi­cials called an ambu­lance. The medics who exam­ined Erimbetov con­clud­ed he had suf­fered an injury to his ribs, his lawyer said.

On January 24, two days after the police opened the inves­ti­ga­tion into Erimbetova’s claims, the agency lead­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion, the National Anti-Corruption Agency, issued a state­ment deny­ing that Erimbetov had been “sub­ject to unlaw­ful inter­ro­ga­tion meth­ods and tor­ture.” The agency cit­ed the con­clu­sions of the National Ombudsman’s office, which had vis­it­ed Erimbetov in deten­tion on January 13, and report­ed that “Erimbetov did not state any com­plaints and claims relat­ed to ill-treat­ment or oth­er pres­sure on him” and “a visu­al exam­i­na­tion by did not con­firm the pres­ence of bod­i­ly injuries men­tioned in the above­men­tioned petition.”

A thor­ough and impar­tial inves­ti­ga­tion is essen­tial to estab­lish the facts and to ensure account­abil­i­ty for any abus­es Erimbetov suf­fered in deten­tion, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Human Rights Watch said.

The pro­hi­bi­tion of tor­ture is one of the most fun­da­men­tal in inter­na­tion­al law. Kazakhstan is par­ty to the Convention against Torture, which defines tor­ture as inten­tion­al­ly inflict­ing severe pain or suf­fer­ing for a pro­hib­it­ed pur­pose, such as to obtain a con­fes­sion. International law requires inves­ti­ga­tion and pros­e­cu­tion of those who car­ried out the abuse, as well as those who ordered it.

“Opening an inves­ti­ga­tion into Erimbetov’s alle­ga­tions of tor­ture is an impor­tant step, but those respon­si­ble for abus­ing him need to be held account­able for jus­tice to be served,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia direc­tor at Human Rights Watch “More imme­di­ate­ly, author­i­ties should see to Erimbetov’s health and ensure that he receives prop­er med­ical attention.”

Kazakhstan: