CCPR/C/119/D/2555/2015
collected was sufficient to draw up an indictment, the investigator notified the accused and
the counsel of the completion of the pretrial investigation, which demonstrates that the
evidence collected in the case was sufficient. Having familiarized themselves with the case
file, the author and the counsel submitted no request to question customs and National
Security Service officials.
4.8
The author’s guilt is supported by the entirety of evidence, including the drug
detection record; the record of the seizure and weight of the physical evidence; the record
of a violation of the customs legislation; the physical evidence (969.66 grams of marijuana);
expert evidence; records of investigative activities; witness testimonies by Mr. Yu., Mr. T.,
Mr. Sh., Mr. Yus. and others; the guilty plea of the co-accused Mr. Yu., the crossexamination record etc. The investigation established that several incoming and outgoing
calls to Tajikistan were made on 2 and 3 August 2012 from the phone number used by the
author.
4.9
The State party also discards the author’s claim that the pretrial investigation and
court proceedings were protracted, as being unsubstantiated. Competent authorities
received no complaint in this connection.
Author’s comments on the State party’s observations
5.1
On 15 June 2015, the author reiterated his claims in their entirety and challenged the
State party’s submissions.
Author’s arrest and detention
5.2
The author provides further details on his detention from 3 to 8 August 2012. On 3
August 2012, the author and his brother were arrested. At around 8.40 p.m., the author’s
brother was released on the condition that he would bring the author’s passport the next day.
On 4 August 2012, the author’s brother, accompanied by the counsel and by relatives of the
detainees,6 went to the customs building, as advised by an investigator. An official checked
the author’s brother’s identity documents and let him enter the premises. Thereafter, he was
detained. On 4 August 2012, at around 4 or 5 p.m., National Security Service officials
brought the author, his brother, Mr. Yu., Mr. T. and Mr. Sh. to the Department of the
Interior in the Tashkent Region. They were admitted to the temporary detention facility. On
8 August 2012, the investigator informed the counsel that the detainees would be brought to
him by midday.
5.3
Between 3 and 8 August 2012, the author’s counsel and relatives contacted daily the
National Security Service and the Department of the Interior in the Tashkent Region, who
denied that their relatives were being detained. During that period, relatives transmitted
food parcels to the detainees.
5.4
A number of documents prove the author’s detention between 3 and 8 August 2012:
including testimonies by the author, his brother, Mr. T. and Mr. Sh., multiple motions and
requests by them and the counsel, Mr. Yu.’s arrest record, expert evidence of 3 August
2012, a report by a customs official and the record of the author’s questioning as an accused
person. Relatives and lawyers of the detainees can testify that they awaited the detainees by
the customs building, on 3 and 4 August 2012, and by the Department of the Interior in the
Tashkent Region, between 4 and 8 August 2012.
5.5
The author claims that the State party’s submission that he fled the crime scene on 3
August 2012, but was later arrested and detained in the temporary detention facility, proves
that he was unlawfully detained from 3 to 8 August 2012. He disagrees that his arrest and
detention were in accordance with the law. As the State party denies that he was arrested
before 8 August 2012, it cannot be said that he was arrested under article 221 (1) of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, that is, on the ground that he was caught in the act or
immediately after committing the offence, on 3 August 2012. His detention was contrary to
article 242 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as it does not meet any of the grounds for
pretrial detention for intentional crimes punishable by less than three years’ imprisonment.
6
The author, Mr. Yu., Mr. T. and Mr. Sh.
7