A/66/44
(b)
To ensure the prompt, impartial and thorough investigation of such acts
and to prosecute and punish perpetrators with penalties appropriate to the nature of
those acts;
(c)
To provide updates on the outcome of investigations of alleged threats
against and ill-treatment of human rights defenders, including those mentioned
above;
(d)
To implement the decision of the Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention (Opinion No. 15/2010) regarding Mr. Amanklychev and Mr. Khajiev, which
concludes that their imprisonment is arbitrary and calls for their immediate release
and the provision of compensation for damages.
Monitoring and inspection of places of detention
(14) While noting the detention monitoring activities by the Office of the ProcuratorGeneral, the Committee is deeply concerned that there is no access for international
monitoring bodies, either governmental or non-governmental, to detention facilities in
Turkmenistan. The Committee notes that the State party cooperates with the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which provides assistance with humanitarian law and
in other ways. However, the Committee notes with concern that the State party has not
granted ICRC access to detention facilities, despite a number of recommendations made by
international bodies, including the General Assembly in its resolutions 59/206 and 60/172,
and as noted by the Secretary-General (A/61/489, para. 21). The Committee also expresses
regret at the long outstanding requests for a country visit by the nine special procedures
mandate holders of the Human Rights Council, in particular those of the Special Rapporteur
on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention (arts. 2, 11 and 16).
The Committee urges the State party:
(a)
To establish a national system that independently, effectively and
regularly monitors and inspects all places of detention without prior notice;
(b)
To grant, as a matter of great urgency, access to independent
governmental and non-government organizations, in particular ICRC, to all detention
facilities in the country;
(c)
To strengthen further the cooperation with United Nations human rights
mechanisms, in particular by permitting visits from the Special Rapporteur on the
question of torture and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in conformity
with the terms of reference for fact-finding missions by special rapporteurs and
special representatives (E/CN.4/1998/45), as soon as possible.
Enforced disappearances and incommunicado detention
(15) The Committee is concerned about a number of persons who have been arrested and
sentenced at closed trials without proper defence and imprisoned incommunicado, and the
lack of information from the State party on progress made in ascertaining their fate and
whereabouts. These persons include Gulgeldy Annaniazov, Ovezgeldy Ataev, Boris
Shikhmuradov, Batyr Berdyev, and those imprisoned in connection with the assassination
attempt on the former President in 2002, raised, inter alia, by the Special Rapporteur on the
question of torture (A/HRC/13/42, paras. 203–204; E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.1, para. 514). In
particular, the Committee is concerned about the lack of: (a) effective, independent and
transparent investigations into allegations of such practices, and prosecutions and
convictions of perpetrators, where appropriate; and (b) due notification of the results of
such investigations to the relatives of individuals who have disappeared, including
confirmation of their place of detention and whether they are alive. This lack of
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