Police Brutality Allegations Filed With Kyrgyz Prosecutors

Prosecutors are formally investigating the allegations, which centre on a murder case in the Tup district. After mutilated body was found in the area at the end of October, police rounded up suspects from the village of Kojiyar, some of whom had been present at a wedding, the last time the dead man was seen alive.



Now the men have filed a case with the prosecution service alleging that police officers beat them with truncheons, and placed gas masks over their head to asphyxiate them, in an effort to coerce information and confessions.



One of those interrogated, Alik Mukambetov, died shortly afterwards, although it is not clear what the cause was.



Prosecutors and senior police officers would not comment on the case as the investigation is still in train.



“It’s for the court to decide whether they were beaten up,” said Tylek Tokubaev, head of the criminal investigations department in Tup district.



Jengishkul, the mother of Joldosh Tynystanov, one of those who has filed allegations of police brutality, said she hoped the investigation would find the officers culpable.



One of the policemen accused of assault, Tylek Toguzakov, dismissed the allegations as slanderous.



“We’re interrogating people in a murder case here,” he told IWPR. “We didn’t beat or torture anyone. We’re not the kind of people to beat someone up.”