CAT/C/KAZ/CO/3
(d)
Ensure that no person is expelled, extradited or returned to a country
where there are substantial grounds to believe that he/she would be in danger of being
persecuted or subjected to torture and other ill-treatment;
(e)
Ensure effective post-return monitoring arrangements concerning
persons who have been expelled, extradited or returned from the State party;
(f)
Refrain from the use of and reliance on diplomatic assurances, which
should not be used to alter the absolute prohibition of non-refoulement;
(g)
Implement the decision of the Committee in cases in which it has found
the State party to be in violation of its obligations under article 3 of the Convention,
including case No. 444/2010 (Toirjon Abdussamatov et al. v. Kazakhstan) by securing
the return of the complainants to Kazakhstan and providing redress, including
adequate compensation, for torture or ill-treatment resulting from their return to
Uzbekistan.
Conditions of detention
17.
While welcoming the reduction in the number of detained persons as a result of
decriminalization of certain acts, release on parole, amnesties, presidential pardons and
resort to non-custodial penalties, the Committee is concerned about the high number of
persons in detention facilities. It is also concerned at the dilapidated infrastructure and poor
material conditions in a number of remand facilities and penal correctional institutions
which are not in conformity with international standards, such as poor quality and quantity
of nutrition and inadequate health care, in particular regarding inmates with serious
illnesses and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS and their high
mortality rate. The Committee is further concerned at reports that persons in detention have
been held in solitary confinement for long periods and denied necessary medical care in
retaliation for engaging in expression of opinions that are protected by human rights law.
The Committee particularly reiterates is concern at reports that Aron Atabek has been held
in solitary confinement and denied needed medical care (arts. 2, 11–13 and 16).
The State party should:
(a)
Improve the material conditions of detention in conformity with the
relevant provisions of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners,
including by providing adequate quality and quantity of nutrition; ensuring living
space in accordance with existing international norms; renovating existing prison
facilities, building new ones and closing those unfit for use; and, in particular, closing
without delay the basement and semi-underground temporary holding facilities;
(b)
Provide appropriate and effective medical care of prisoners and detained
persons, including adequate medicines and examination by independent doctors, as
well as prompt referral to specialist treatment for persons with serious illnesses and
infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and establish special facilities
for the care of such patients;
(c)
Transfer the administration of health care in temporary holding
facilities and the penal correctional system to the Ministry of Health;
(d)
Establish an independent mechanism to receive the complaints of
inmates about their conditions of detention, ensure the confidentiality of complaints
placed in prison letterboxes and provide effective follow-up to such complaints for the
purpose of remedial action and ensure that inmates who file complaints are not
subjected to reprisals;
9