A/HRC/19/61/Add.2
being rude to the members of the Special Rapporteur’s team. At the temporary detention
facility of Osh City Interior, an officer went to the cells ahead of the Special Rapporteur
telling inmates “you know what you have to say”. These incidents constitute serious
breaches of the terms of reference agreed upon by the Government of Kyrgyzstan.
Moreover, any restrictions to the Special Rapporteur’s right to unrestricted access to
detention facilities and any interference with private interviews with detainees leads him to
suspect that these authorities wished to conceal evidence.
7.
The Special Rapporteur wishes to express his gratitude to the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in particular its Regional Office
for Central Asia, in Bishkek, the United Nations country team, the Resident Coordinator
and others involved in organizing the visit, for the excellent assistance prior to and
throughout the mission.
8.
The Special Rapporteur shared his preliminary findings with the Government at the
close of his mission. On 20 January 2012, he sent an advanced preliminary version of the
present report to the Government in English and a Russian language version on 24 January
2012. On 20 February 2012, the Government provided comments.
II. Legal framework
A.
International level
9.
Kyrgyzstan is a party to the main United Nations human rights treaties prohibiting
torture and ill-treatment, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Kyrgyzstan acceded to the
Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture in 2008. The State is also a signatory
to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
B.
Regional level
10.
Kyrgyzstan, as a participating State in the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has made a number of political commitments in the field of
human rights. It is also a party to regional agreements, mainly in the field of security
cooperation, such as the Convention on Legal Aid and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and
Criminal Cases of the Commonwealth of Independent States . Kyrgyzstan is a member of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
C.
1.
National level
Constitutional and legislative provisions criminalizing torture
11.
Article 22 of the Constitution promulgated on 27 June 2011 stipulates that “No one
may be subject to torture or to other inhuman, cruel and degrading forms of treatment or
punishment.” In addition, article 20, paragraph 4, of the Constitution provides that the
prohibition of torture and other inhuman, cruel and degrading forms of treatment and
punishment should not be subject to any limitations.
12.
Article 305-1 of the Criminal Code, as amended in 2003, prescribes punishment for
ill-treatment, including ill-treatment with the use of torture, in the form of imprisonment for
a period of three to five years.
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