KZBlog

Manfred Nowak, the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on Torture, visited Kazakhstan last week to evaluate prison conditions. He noted that prison conditions have improved greatly in recent years, especially in physical conditions. He urged officials to put more emphasis on rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners, and less on punishment and to give prisoners more activities.

More troublingly, Nowak reported that:

he received many “credible allegations” of beatings with hands and fists, plastic bottles filled with sand and police truncheons.

He was also told of kicking, asphyxiation through plastic bags and gas masks used to obtain confessions from suspects. “In several cases, these allegations were supported by forensic medical evidence.”

The Special Rapporteur added that there are some groups that run larger risks of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment than others, noting that the likeliness for foreigners to be subjected to such treatment seems to be “higher than average.”

Equally troubling is the fact that despite these reports from prisoners and suspects in criminal cases, there is a lack of official complaints. Nowak speculated that prisoners do not trust the justice system or are afraid that if they complain, they will be punished further.