CCPR/C/119/D/2125/2011 2008 and 26 January 2009. The author’s request for the removal of the judge was denied. The author also claims that there was pressure from the presiding judge on the defence and the jury, that the presiding judge did not do anything to prevent the threats from the family of the victims and that the jury was composed of eight women and two men of Kazakh ethnicity, when the author is a man of Korean ethnicity. 2.12 The author raises numerous claims concerning assessment by the court of the evidence in the case. Among others, he claims that the crime scene protocol was rewritten the next day, that technical errors were made in collecting evidence and that the experts arrived at incorrect conclusions, in particular about the date when his fingerprint was left in the bathroom of the victims’ house, the DNA found on a piece of cloth and the handwriting in the four confessions. He also alleges that no evidence has been presented in the court concerning the money he owed to Y., which was said to be the motive for the crime. 2.13 On 16 June 2009, the Astana City Court sentenced the author to 25 years in prison and confiscation of property. The author appealed on 30 June 2009 to the Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal on 10 November 2009. The author, although represented by his lawyers, was denied the possibility of being present at the hearing of the appeal court, despite a written request. In the appeal, the author raised claims about procedural violations at the stage of investigation and collection of evidence, the lack of independence of judge N. and the failure of the trial court to investigate the circumstances under which the author wrote the four confessions and the pressure exerted on him by the police, specifically the restriction of his right to receive packages and to be visited by his lawyers. The appeal court considered his case for two hours and rejected his appeal without reviewing the facts and evidence in his case. The author appealed under the supervisory review proceedings to the Supreme Court on 16 November 2009. Without notifying the author or his lawyers about the date of the hearing, on 5 January 2010, the Supreme Court decided not to open a supervisory review of the appeal. On 5 September 2011, the author submitted another appeal under the supervisory review proceedings to the Supreme Court. On 6 December 2011, the Supreme Court reduced his sentence by 1 year to 24 years in prison. On an unspecified date, the author submitted one more appeal under the supervisory review proceedings to the Supreme Court. The appeal was rejected on 9 December 2015. On an unspecified date, the author submitted a request to the City Court No. 2 in Kostanai to review his sentence following entry into force on 1 January 2015 of the new Criminal Code of 3 July 2014. On 18 November 2015, Kostanai City Court No. 2 reduced the sentence to 19 years in prison. 2.14 The author complains about conditions of detention in the colony AK-159/7 in Karaganda, where he was held from 26 August 2010 to 18 September 2010. Among other complaints, he mentions overcrowded sleeping areas (eighty to ninety persons in a room), humidity, cold temperatures in the rooms, a lack of natural light, insufficient artificial light and a lack of ventilation. He alleges that the inmates had to clean up the sewage and that his correspondence was subjected to censorship.4 He also claims that there is no possibility of work and no activities for the inmates in the correction facility UK-161/2 in Kostanai region, where he is currently serving the sentence. The complaint 3.1 The author claims that his rights under article 7 of the Covenant read alone and in conjunction with article 2 (3) of the Covenant have been violated on account of torture by the police, the lack of effective investigation into his allegations and the lack of effective remedies. 3.2 He alleges that his rights under article 9 of the Covenant, read alone and in conjunction with article 2 (3), of the Covenant have been violated due to the failure of the courts to justify the need for his detention when authorizing it and by the authorization of his detention dated 3 November 2008 by the investigator and not by the court. 4 4 The author provided a brief dated 3 June 2009, issued by the Public Monitoring Commission of correction facilities and temporary detention facilities in the Karaganda region on the basis of its visit to the colony AK-159/7 on 4 May 2009.