CAT/OP/KAZ/1/Add.1 Paragraph 59 The fact that all detention facilities are under the same ministry as the investigators is problematic. The Subcommittee recommends that the detaining authority be separate from the investigating officials, which allows for mutual control and excludes the possibility of using detention as a tool of the investigative process or a means to compel prisoners to confess. 132. Currently, the penal correction system falls under the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; it is separate from the criminal prosecution agencies and, with the vertical subordination of the regional offices in the central administration, it has maintained its autonomy. 133. The current structure of the penal correction system is in line with article 24 of the Constitutional Law on the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and article 7 (4) of the Internal Affairs Agencies Act; it comprises the central department, its local offices (the provincial departments), penal correction facilities and other subordinate organizations. 134. Furthermore, in 2013, in the country’s third periodic report to the Committee against Torture, approved by Government Decision No. 617 of 18 June 2013, Kazakhstan officially stated on an international stage that: “One sign of the commitment to the Convention’s principles and provisions is the preservation of the independence of the penal correction system. Notwithstanding the transfer of this structure to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the prison system has retained its own independent administrative body: the Ministry’s Committee on the Penal Correction System at national level and the Committee’s provincial departments at local level.” This remains the official position. Paragraph 60 The Subcommittee views with concern the many transfers between different institutions. Transfers of detainees should be kept to a minimum. As the default option, investigators should travel to the pretrial or temporary detention facilities to question detainees. If investigators consider transfers elsewhere strictly necessary, they should be required to justify those transfers. The Subcommittee recommends that movements of suspects be recorded accurately in order to track their whereabouts. 135. In accordance with article 150 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (prison transfers), the movement of suspects, accused persons and defendants held in detention as a preventive measure from one detention facility to another for the purposes of the investigation takes place on the decision of the procurator or of the person conducting the pretrial investigation, with the authorization of the procurator. Paragraph 61 The Subcommittee recommends that the Government bring the conditions of detention in police stations into compliance with international standards, including the conditions of detention during transfers, by ensuring that cells have sufficient daylight, ventilation and space and by providing detainees with water and food. 136. Living space per prisoner in institutions of the penal correction system has been increased from 2.5 m2 to 3.5 m2 for men, 4 m2 for women, 5 m2 in hospitals and 6.5 m2 for minors. 137. Kazakhstan pays particular attention to improving the conditions for detainees and prisoners. 138. Places of deprivation of liberty currently meet international standards. This is reflected in the results of visits conducted by United Nations special international experts and human rights NGOs. 139. One area of activities in which the country’s penitentiary system is being brought in line with international standards is that prisoners are now permitted to move around and see other persons during the day, while they are held in isolation in a separate room at night. This form of detention is the most suitable and safe for the prisoners. GE.18-05420 17