Committee against Torture

List of issues in relation to the third periodic report of Tajikistan *

Follow-up questions from the previous reporting cycle

1.In the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 26), Tajikistan was asked to provide follow-up information in response to the Committee’s recommendations on the advisability of:

(a) Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that a person is considered under arrest and that legal safeguards against torture apply from the moment he or she is apprehended (para. 8 (a));

(b) Establishing an official, central register in which arrests are scrupulously and immediately recorded and holding accountable officers who fail to accurately record the required information (para. 8 (b));

(c) Promptly, effectively and impartially investigating all incidents and allegations of torture and ill-treatment (para. 9 (a));

(d) Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that article 28 (1), which states that a court, judge, prosecutor or investigator may terminate criminal proceedings and exempt the person targeted by the proceedings from criminal liability on the basis of repentance, conciliation with the victim, change of circumstances or expiration of the period of statute of limitation for criminal prosecution, does not apply to cases involving allegations of torture or ill-treatment (para. 11 (c));

(e) Allocating sufficient budgetary resources to improve conditions in all places of detention, eliminating the complete isolation of prisoners serving life sentences, ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and establishing a national preventive mechanism and an effective, accessible and confidential system for receiving and processing complaints regarding torture or ill-treatment in all places of detention (paras. 14 (a), (b), (c) and (d)).

2.The Committee welcomes the follow-up information provided by the State party on 9 January 2014 (CAT/C/TJK/CO/2/Add.1) and the further information included in the State party’s periodic report submitted on 23 November 2016 (CAT/C/TJK/3). However, in the light of the concerns set out in paragraphs 5, 8, 10, 13 and 25 of the present document, the Committee is of the view that full effect has not been given to the recommendations it chose for follow-up in the concluding observations on the second periodic report of Tajikistan.

Articles 1 and 4

3.With reference to the Committee’s previous recommendations (para. 6), please indicate the number of sentences that were imposed during the reporting period on persons convicted of violating articles 143 (1) and 143 (2) of the Criminal Code.

4.Please provide updated information as to whether the State party has amended the Criminal Code to increase the terms of imprisonment for the offence of torture to 8 years under article 143 (1) and 10 years under article 143 (2). Please indicate whether the State party is pursuing any further legal or policy reforms to ensure that the punishments imposed for torture reflect its grave nature, as required by article 4 of the Convention.

5.Please indicate whether the State party has taken measures to ensure that the crime of torture is not subject to a statute of limitations.

6.The Committee regrets that the State party’s report did not contain information indicating that it had given effect to the Committee’s recommendation (para. 11 (c)) to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that article 28 (1), which states that a court, judge, prosecutor or investigator may terminate criminal proceedings and exempt the person targeted by the proceedings from criminal liability on the basis of repentance, conciliation with the victim, change of circumstances or expiration of the period of statute of limitation for criminal prosecution, does not apply to cases involving allegations of torture or ill-treatment. Please indicate whether the State party has amended or is seeking to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure as recommended by the Committee.

7.Please provide information on the measures that have been taken by the State party to ensure that officials who are alleged to have committed acts amounting to a violation of the Convention are charged with the offence of torture rather than less serious crimes such as abuse of power, exceeding official authority, coercion or negligence and that they are subjected to criminal prosecution, not simply to disciplinary sanctions.

Article 2

8.Given the Committee’s concerns about the numerous and consistent allegations of torture and ill-treatment of suspects in police custody and in temporary pretrial detention facilities run by the State Committee of National Security and the Department for the Fight against Organized Crime, please indicate whether the State party, with a view to ensuring that all persons deprived of their liberty enjoy fundamental safeguards against torture, has taken measures to regulate or prohibit the practice of the use of police offices and maintenance and duty offices under the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as places of incommunicado detention.

9.The Committee appreciates the information provided by the State party indicating that 80 complaints of torture (article 143-1 of the Criminal Code) were received and investigated by its authorities between 2012 and September 2016 and that six of those complaints resulted in prosecutions, with four leading to convictions. However, the Committee remains concerned by the small percentage of complaints that have resulted in prosecutions and by reports that that outcome is a result of institutional ties between the prosecutors investigating allegations of torture and the alleged perpetrators, which create conflicts of interest and lead to ineffective investigations. The Committee is also troubled by reports that a significantly larger number of cases involving allegations of conduct violating the Convention have been opened under articles of the State party’s Criminal Code other than the article concerning torture and that those cases are usually investigated by the very authorities allegedly responsible for the violation and rarely lead to prosecutions. In the light of these concerns:

(a)Please provide updated data reflecting the number of allegations of torture and ill-treatment investigated by the State party’s authorities during the period under review; the number of investigations that led to criminal prosecutions, and under what charges; and the number of persons found guilty of such acts and the sentences handed down. Please also provide the rank and titles of all persons prosecuted on charges of torture during the reporting period;

(b)Please describe any measures taken by the State party during the reporting period to implement the Committee’s recommendation to establish an effective and independent criminal investigation mechanism with no connection to the body prosecuting the case against the alleged victim.

10.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 7), please provide information on whether the State party intends to amend the 2011 Law on Amnesty to make it clear that no one convicted of the crime of torture will be eligible to benefit from future amnesties.

11.The Committee welcomes the efforts made by the State party to give effect to the Committee’s recommendation (para. 8 (a)) that it amend its Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that apprehended persons are considered under arrest and afforded legal safeguards against torture as soon as they are apprehended, but it is concerned by reports that in many cases they are not afforded such safeguards. In that regard, please indicate whether the State party has taken steps to ensure that persons who are deprived of their liberty as “witnesses” rather than as “suspects” or detained for administrative offences enjoy all legal safeguards against torture from the moment they are apprehended.

12.Please provide information on the steps that have been taken to ensure that all persons deprived of their liberty have prompt and effective access to an independent lawyer. In particular, please indicate whether the State party is considering modifying or repealing recent amendmentsto the law regulating the legal profession that, according to reports, have given the Ministry of Justice undue influence over the commission responsible for licensing lawyers and led to a dramatic drop in the number of lawyers in the country. Please also describe any measures taken during the reporting period to introduce a legal aid programme broader than the Policy Framework for Free Legal Aid, which provides free legal aid for young people who do not have a tutor or guardian, and to ensure that legal aid provided within the framework of any such programmes is of good quality.

13.Please provide information on the measures taken by the State party to ensure that detainees have access to examinations by fully independent doctors and that all medical personnel tasked with examining detainees are able to do so in compliance with the requirements of the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Istanbul Protocol). Please indicate whether the State party is considering ensuring that all detainees are examined by employees of the Ministry of Health rather than by medical professionals employed by the agencies responsible for their detention.

14.The Committee welcomes the information provided by the State party on the measures it has taken to improve police practices with respect to maintaining arrest logs but regrets that no follow-up information was provided to indicate whether, as recommended by the Committee (para. 8 (b)), the State party had established an official, central register in which arrests are scrupulously and immediately recorded and held accountable officers who failed to accurately record the required information. Please therefore indicate whether the State party has taken measures to establish such a central register.

15.Please indicate how the State party has monitored official compliance with the recent amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure and provide data on cases in which, during the period under review, officials have been disciplined or prosecuted for failing to provide persons deprived of their liberty with procedural safeguards against torture.

16.Please also provide information on progress towards ensuring that all interrogations are filmed and recorded and that video surveillance is installed in all areas of custodial facilities where detainees may be present, as recommended by the Committee (para. 9). In addition, please provide information on cases in which such recordings have been made available to investigators, detainees and their lawyers, as also recommended by the Committee.

17.Please indicate whether the State party is taking measures to limit the permissible term of pre-charge detention to 48 hours, as recommended by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

18.Please provide updated data on the number of individuals presently held in pretrial detention, disaggregated by facility, in the State party. Please indicate whether the State party has implemented the Committee’s previous recommendation to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that pretrial detention is not authorized by the courts solely on the basis of the gravity of the alleged crime and that periods of pretrial detention cannot be extended when the prosecution has failed to present well-founded grounds for the person to remain in custody. In this regard, please describe the measures that have been taken during the reporting period — including by reviewing the procedures for the appointment and dismissal of judges or the rotation of judges through the courts of general jurisdiction — to strengthen the independence of the judiciary.

19.Despite the welcome adoption by the State party of the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act in 2013, the Committee is concerned about the reported prevalence of domestic violence in the State party and the lack of legislation criminalizing it (para. 16). Please therefore indicate the number of complaints of domestic violence that were received during the reporting period, the number of prosecutions that were initiated and the number of convictions that were secured. Please also indicate what additional progress the State party has made towards criminalizing domestic violence, including sexual violence and marital rape, as specific offences and reformulating the strict evidentiary requirements that, according to reports, discourage victims of domestic violence from coming forward. Please provide updated information on the impact of the deployment of 10 neighbourhood domestic violence officers in certain provinces of the country and indicate whether the State party intends to expand the programme throughout its territory. Please also indicate whether the State party intends to provide funding from the central budget to ensure that victims of domestic and sexual violence have access to immediate protection and assistance, including secure shelters, medical treatment and legal services. In addition, please indicate whether the State party has taken measures to gather and publish nationwide data on the incidence, prevalence and characteristics of domestic violence in its territory.

20.Please provide additional information on the measures taken by the State party to proactively identify victims of trafficking in the State party and provide them with adequate services. In particular, please indicate the amount of funding provided by the State party for the Girls’ Support Service Project described in its third periodic report (see CAT/C/TJK/3, para. 10). In the same connection, please indicate whether the support services provided as part of the Project are accessible to victims of trafficking throughout the State party and whether the State party has introduced or intends to introduce programmes involving the provision of legal, psychological and social support to victims of trafficking over the age of 18 and ensuring their rehabilitation and reintegration. Please also provide additional data, covering the reporting period, on the investigations and prosecutions of alleged perpetrators of trafficking mentioned in paragraph 36 of the State party’s third periodic report, including the terms of imprisonment to which those found guilty were sentenced. Please include data covering investigations and prosecutions conducted in 2016 and 2017.

Article 3

21.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 18), please describe the measures taken by the State party to ensure that it is in full compliance with the non-refoulement obligation under article 3 of the Convention (in that connection, the Committee notes with appreciation the 2014 amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibiting the extradition of a person if there is evidence to suggest that he or she might be tortured). In particular, please indicate the number of asylum seekers in detention in the State party, disaggregated by detention facility, the number of non-Tajik nationals who were expelled, returned or otherwise denied entry at the State party’s borders, disaggregated by country of return, and the number of extradition orders that were appealed, disaggregated by intended country of return. Please indicate whether extradition was suspended pending the outcome of the appeal, while ensuring that the numbers provided in response to the requests above cover cases that were considered or resolved during the reporting period. Furthermore, please indicate whether the State party is considering amending article 335 (1) of its Criminal Code to exempt all asylum seekers, not only those who submit an application for asylum on political grounds, from criminal responsibility for illegal border crossing.

22.Please indicate whether the State party accepts diplomatic assurances from other States that individuals returned to the States offering the assurances will not be subjected to torture and, if so, on what condition. In that regard, please indicate whether the State party removed anyone from its territory on the basis of such assurances or the equivalent thereof during the period under review and, if so, how many persons were thus removed.

Articles 5–9

23.Please indicate whether the State party,since the consideration of the previous report, has, for any reason, rejected a request by another State for extradition of an individual suspected of having committed an offence of torture and started prosecution proceedings as a result. If so, please provide information on the status and outcome of the proceedings.

24.Please indicate whether torture is included as an extraditable offence in any extradition treaties concluded with other States parties.

25.Please indicate whether the State party has entered into mutual judicial assistance treaties or agreements that have led to the transfer of any evidence in connection with prosecutions concerning torture and ill-treatment.

Article 10

26.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 19), please provide updated information on:

(a)Whether the human rights training sessions and seminars organized by the Commissioner for Human Rights, together with other authorities, specifically address the provisions of the Convention, including the absolute prohibition of torture, and how the effectiveness of such training is assessed;

(b)Whether law enforcement officials and medical professionals receive training in assessing and responding to cases of gender-based violence against women, including rape, violence against girls and trafficking, and how the effectiveness of such training is assessed;

(c)Whether specific methodologies have been developed to assess the effectiveness and impact on the work of procurators and investigators of the manual on the legal framework and organization of the activities of the procuratorial authorities in preventing, detecting and investigating torture, which takes into account the Istanbul Protocol.

Article 11

27.With reference to its previous concluding observations (para. 14) and recommendations for follow-up, and taking note of the information provided by the State party on follow-up to the concluding observations (see CAT/C/TJK/CO/2/Add.1, paras. 29–39 and 47), the Committee finds it regrettable that while the State party has taken measures to provide limited opportunities for independent monitoring of places of detention, it has not provided information indicating that it has given effect to the Committee’s recommendations to allocate sufficient budgetary resources to improve conditions in all places of detention, eliminate the complete isolation of prisoners serving life sentences, ratify the Optional Protocol and establish a national preventive mechanism, and set up an effective, accessible and confidential system for receiving and processing complaints of torture or ill-treatment in all places of detention. In this regard, please provide the following:

(a)Updated information on whether the State party expects to ratify the Optional Protocol or establish a national preventive mechanism, as proposed in paragraph 4 of the plan of activities to implement the Committee’s recommendations, approved by government decree on 15 August 2013;

(b)Information on whether the State party intends to permit independent national and international monitors, including but not limited to the International Committee of the Red Cross, to make unannounced visits to places of detention, receive the complaints of inmates about their conditions of detention, provide effective follow-up to such complaints and make their findings public;

(c)Information on the measures taken to establish an effective, accessible and confidential system for receiving and processing complaints of torture or ill-treatment, other than through the prison administration, in all places of detention, to ensure that complaints are promptly, impartially and effectively investigated and that the complainants do not suffer any reprisals;

(d)Updated data on visits to places of detention carried out by the Ombudsman’s Office and the monitoring group, including the number of such visits carried out, whether all places of detention were visited during the reporting period and whether the visits resulted in allegations of torture or ill-treatment being brought to the authorities’ attention, and with what results;

(e)Updated information on whether the State party intends to allocate sufficient budgetary resources to improve conditions in all places of detention, including by ensuring that they are supplied with hot water, means of personal hygiene, adequate sanitary conditions, ventilation, means of drying clothes, adequate amounts of good-quality food and adequate health care provided by qualified medical personnel;

(f)Updated information concerning any further measures taken during the reporting period to put an end to the harsh conditions, including strict regimes and isolation in small, dark and unventilated cells, of prisoners serving life sentences;

28.Please provide information on any steps that have been taken to improve the conditions in facilities for pretrial detention (SIZO), where it is reported that inadequate food and sanitation are provided, access to lawyers is denied, no telephone calls and only two family visits a month are allowed and toilet facilities and showers may be used only three times a day and once a week respectively.

29.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 10):

(a)Please provide updated information on deaths in custody recorded during the reporting period, disaggregated by facility and cause of death. Please indicate whether criminal or disciplinary measures were taken against officials found to be responsible for deaths in custody during the reporting period;

(b)Please indicate whether investigations into the causes of deaths in custody were undertaken and, if so, whether they have resulted in criminal prosecutions for torture or ill-treatment;

(c)Please indicate what progress has been made in the State party’s investigation into the death in custody of Ismonboy Boboev since the submission of the State party’s periodic report to the Committee;

(d)Please indicate the progress or outcome of any investigation into the reported deaths in custody of Kurbon Mannonov and Nozimdzhon Tashripov, both affiliated with the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, in August 2016.

30.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 20), please provide information on:

(a)Specific measures that have been taken to guarantee that the rights of children are respected in all places of detention, not least the right to appropriate legal assistance and defence, including by appointing a sufficient number of lawyers with relevant training and expertise;

(b)Steps that have been taken to prevent police inquiry officers from mistreating children, investigate such acts and ensure that appropriate disciplinary measures are taken;

(c)Measures that have been taken to review all cases of children sentenced to imprisonment — so that deprivation of liberty is used only for serious criminal offences — and ensure that the solitary confinement of minors is limited to very exceptional cases, as a measure of last resort, for as short a time as possible, under strict supervision and with the possibility of judicial review.

31.Please provide information about actions taken by the State party in response to reports that employees of temporary detention facilities issue pre-signed documents, without conducting the required examinations, confirming the absence of signs of torture and ill-treatment of suspects.

Articles 12–13

32.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 15), please provide updated information on:

(a)Measures that have been taken to ensure that persons alleging acts of torture and ill-treatment, including victims, their family members, journalists, lawyers, medical experts, human rights defenders and civil society organizations, are protected from all ill-treatment, intimidation or reprisals as a consequence of their complaints and activities;

(b)Steps that have been taken to ensure that appropriate disciplinary or criminal measures are taken against law enforcement officials in cases of violence, intimidation and reprisals;

(c)Investigations (and the outcomes thereof) into alleged cases of intimidation and reprisals in connection with allegations of torture during the period under review;

(d)Progress towards the resolution of any investigation by the State party into allegations that lawyers such as Shuhrat Kudratov, Buzurgmehr Yorov, Nuriddin Mahkamov and Dzhamshed Yorov, who have provided legal assistance to detained members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan and alleged that their clients were tortured in detention, have been subject to retaliation, including arrest and detention on manifestly unfounded charges. Please also indicate whether an investigation has been undertaken into allegations that Buzurgmehr Yorov has been subjected to beatings amounting to torture by guards at the pretrial detention centre (SIZO) No. 1 in Dushanbe, including in September 2017.

33.Please indicate the status or results of any criminal investigations into the following cases:

(a)Allegations that Abubakr Azizkhojaev was subjected to torture or ill-treatment while being held in Dushanbe after being detained as a witness in February 2016 and later prosecuted on charges of inciting hatred;

(b)Allegations that Mahmadali Hayit, the former deputy Chair of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, and Rahmatullo Rajab, a senior Party official, were tortured at the State Committee for National Security detention facility in Dushanbe and that Umarali Husaynov (also known as Saidumar Khusaini), the Chair of the Party, was tortured by officers from the Police Unit for Combating Organized Crime after all three were arrested on 16 September 2015;

(c)Allegations that Firuz Tabarov was subjected to torture in pretrial detention following his July 2015 arrest on charges including extremism and providing mercenaries.

Article 14

34.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 21), please provide updated information on:

(a)Measures taken during the period under review to adopt legislation with clear and explicit provisions on the right of torture victims to redress, including fair and adequate compensation and rehabilitation for damages caused by torture, regardless of whether perpetrators of such acts have been brought to justice;

(b)Redress and compensation measures, including the means of rehabilitation ordered by the courts and actually provided to the victims of torture or their families since the consideration of the previous report. Include the number of requests for compensation that have been made, the number granted and the amounts ordered and actually provided in each case;

(c)The amounts of any compensation awards made by courts to victims of violations of the Convention, including those who were subjected to torture and/or ill-treatment from 1995 to 1999 and, in cases of death in custody, to family members.

Article 15

35.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 13), please provide updated information on:

(a)Specific measures that have been taken by the State party to guarantee, both in law and practice, the exclusion by the judiciary of evidence obtained under torture, as provided by law (article 88 of the Code of Criminal Procedure);

(b)Concrete steps that have been taken to ensure that in all cases in which a person alleges that a confession was obtained through torture or ill-treatment for the purpose of extracting self-incriminating evidence to be used in criminal proceedings, the proceedings have been suspended and the claim investigated;

(c)Any cases in which prosecutors, in the absence of a formal complaint made by the victim, have launched investigations into allegations that defendants’ confessions were obtained through torture or ill-treatment;

(d)Whether any criminal prosecutions have been dismissed by the courts owing to the introduction of evidence or testimony obtained through torture or ill-treatment.

Article 16

36.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 12), please provide information on any steps that have been taken to strengthen efforts to prohibit and eliminate hazing, torture and ill-treatment in the armed forces and to ensure prompt, impartial and thorough investigations of all allegations of such acts. Please also provide information on any investigations into acts of hazing and on the prosecution and punishment of those found guilty of such acts during the period under review. Please indicate whether the results of any such investigations have been made public. Please also indicate whether the victims have been provided with compensation, full rehabilitation and appropriate medical and psychological assistance.

37.Please provide information on the efforts made by the State party to encourage lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex people to come forward with allegations of torture, ill-treatment, sexual abuse and extortion by police or abuse by non-State actors and to protect complainants from reprisals. Please also provide data on any investigations and convictions undertaken by the authorities in response to such allegations.

38.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 16), please provide information on whether any new legislation has been adopted that explicitly prohibits corporal punishment in all settings, including in the home, alternative care facilities, some day-care settings and penal institutions. Please also provide information on any campaigns that were conducted during the period under review to raise awareness of the negative impact of the corporal punishment of children.

Other issues

39.Please provide updated information on measures taken by the State party to respond to any threats of terrorism. Please describe whether those measures have affected human rights safeguards in law and practice and, if so, how they have affected them. Please also describe how the State party has ensured that those measures are compatible with its obligations under international law, especially the Convention.Furthermore, please indicate what training is given to law enforcement officers in this area, how many people have been convicted under legislation adopted to combat terrorism, what legal safeguards and remedies are available in law and in practice to persons subjected to counter-terrorism measures, whether there have been complaints of non-observance of international standards in this regard and, if so, what the outcome of the complaints was.

40.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations (para. 24), please indicate whether the State party is considering making the declarations under articles 21 and 22 of the Convention.