Three officers of the Yangihayot district police department in Tashkent were sentenced for abuse of authority and torture of detained individuals.
According to one of the detainees, he was subjected to cruel treatment after he refused to admit committing crime. He was handcuffed, forced to raise his hands and stand facing the wall, after which they put a bag over his head and wrapped it with tape.
I was suffocating. Then they hit me on the back, legs, and used a stun gun, the man said.
An examination confirmed multiple injuries to the man, including marks from blows and burns typical of a stun gun. Another victim said that the police officers had brutally beaten him until he signed the necessary papers. He was diagnosed with serious head injuries and psychological trauma. One of the blows to the head ruptured the eardrum.
The third victim spoke about torture with elements of sexual humiliation. The police officers took off his pants, and one of the officers brought a lighter to his genitals and threatened him.
A fourth individual also told of a similar traumatic experience. He was beaten on the stomach and face, after which they burned his beard and threatened to burn him alive.
One of them took a fly swatter and started to whip me. They burned my beard. They said that if I did not testify against my friends, they would burn me alive. They said: “You will not leave here until you say what we told you to,” the victim added.
The only woman among those detained said that she was also taken to a room without cameras, beaten and threatened with rape.
They said: “If you sign what we say, you will leave. If not, you will stay here forever.” They hit me on the head and threatened to rape, the woman said.
The court found three officers of the police department guilty. They were found to have systematically used violence against individuals. Interrogations were conducted in rooms without video surveillance, which violates the regulations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The methods used included beatings, strangulation, threats of burning, electric shock, sexualized violence and psychological pressure.
They were convicted under Part 2 the Use of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment committed by a group of persons, with the use of violence or against two or more persons charge and were sentenced to 5 years 1 month, 11 years and 5 years 1 month of imprisonment in a general colony.
