Kazakh court upholds landmark ruling on police torture
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 23 January 2014 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Kazakh court upholds landmark ruling on police torture, 23 January 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5331446711.html [accessed 28 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
January 23, 2014
By RFE/RL
Kazakh construction worker Aleksandr Gerasimov (center) smiles with his lawyers after a regional court in Qostanai upheld a decision to award him $13,000 in damages after he was brutally beaten and tortured by police in 2007.
A court in the northern Kazakh region of Qostanai has ruled to uphold a decision to award compensation to a man who was tortured by police in 2007.
Construction worker Aleksandr Gerasimov says he suffered permanent health and psychological damage after police beat him and repeatedly held a plastic bag over his face to induce suffocation.
A judge last November ruled that local police officials should pay Gerasimov 2 million tenges ($13,000) in compensation for his suffering.
Police had appealed the verdict, but their case was thrown out in the January 23 ruling, which clears the way for Gerasimov to receive his payment from the regional division of the Kazakh Interior Ministry.
The incident was the first Central Asian abuse case to go before the UN Committee Against Torture. In 2012, the committee found Kazakhstan to be in violation of UN torture conventions and urged Kazakh officials to investigate the case and prevent further such abuse.
Anastassia Miller, a lawyer with the Qostanai branch of the Kazakh International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, said she was "very happy" with the ruling, which sets a historic precedent for Kazakhs and other Central Asians seeking redress for police torture.
Human Rights Watch, in its new World Report released this week, said that more than 200 complaints of police abuse were registered in the first half of 2013 alone.
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
