Briefing Paper: Use of Tools of Torture in OSCE participating States Kyrgyz Republic: There are repeated allegations of police using electric shock batons to perpetrate torture and other ill-treatment to extract confessions and to punish. In 2014, the National Center of the Kyrgyz Republic for the Prevention of Torture, the country’s NPM, received testimony that police tried to force a suspect to confess to murder while he was held at the Oktyabrsky district police station.30 The subject alleges that he was made to sit in a chair and his hands were cuffed behind the chair. Police then placed him face down while still restrained and beat his legs with batons, put a plastic bag over his head and repeatedly applied electric shock to his heels and buttocks using an electric shock baton. A Monitoring Mission made up of civil society organizations, defence attorneys and international organizations documented five cases of torture or other ill-treatment perpetrated using electric shock batons against persons suspected of or awaiting trial for alleged criminal activity in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2012, with one subject telling monitors “They tied me to the chair with handcuffs and were using an electric shock baton.”31 Human Rights Watch reported that electric shock batons were used by police against gay and bisexual men in the Kyrgyz Republic. In one such instance, a subject alleges that he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment after being detained in August 2008: “They tied my hands and knees, put me on my stomach. People without uniforms walked in, and anyone who wanted to put whatever they had in their hands [inside of] my anus. Then they would turn me on my back and beat me with batons. They did not stop there. They took an electric shock weapon and put it near my anus. They didn’t stick it inside but would put it next to my anus and shock me. My mouth was gagged. And this kept on going until the evening. They would call their acquaintances and ask, “Do you want to see some fags?”32 Manufacture and trade: Companies in many OSCE participating States are involved in the manufacture and trade of electric shock batons and other direct contact electric shock weapons. While some of these products are marketed to civilians for self-defence, Omega has documented the marketing of electric shock weapons by companies in OSCE participating States to the law enforcement or military communities. Russian company March Group produces a range of electric shock weapons and promotes them to the police community domestically and in a range of other countries. On its website, the company lists dealers and representatives in OSCE participating States Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, 30 NGO Coalition against Torture in Kyrgyzstan, Torture in Kyrgyzstan: Current concerns and recommendations, 18 May 2015, http://iphronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/torture_in_kyrgyzstan_may_2015.pdf accessed 11 May 2017 accessed 11 May 2017, pp. 6-7. 31 Monitoring Group (made up of civil society organizations, defence attorneys and international organizations), “Observance of the Right to Freedom from Torture in Closed Facilities of the Kyrgyz Republic. Monitoring. Response. Rehabilitation”, Bishkek 2012, http://www.osce.org/bishkek/100473?download=true accessed 4 May 2017, pp. 55-56. 32 Human Rights Watch, “They Said We Deserved This”: Police Violence Against Gay and Bisexual Men in Kyrgyzstan, 2014, https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/01/28/they-said-we-deserved/police-violence-againstgay-and-bisexual-men-kyrgyzstan accessed 11 May 2017, pp. 40-41. 10