Koshmambet Torture Case: Latest Testimony Reveals Further Details

A victim in the Koshmambet torture case identified all the suspects, Orda.kz reports.

The victim, Mamatkobul Yakubov, had already given statements in April 2024.

Before the questioning, he identified all six defendants: Serik Turpanbayev, Nursultan Khamitov, Baurzhan Sopakov, Arman Shoibekov, Olzhas Aidarkhanov and Berik Abilbekov. At the same time, he noted that Abilbekov, Turpanbayev, and Aidarkhanov did not assault him.

After the prosecutor's clarifications, the defense lawyers began the questioning. They insisted on detailed explanations. Yakubov clarified that after what he experienced in January 2022, and after almost three years, he can no longer recall everything in detail.

Three years have passed, I don't remember the details anymore. The main thing (I remember): I got struck on the head, I remember that for sure. They beat confessions out of everyone (detained), he said.

Serik Turpanbayev's lawyer, Yerlan Mendeshev, asked Yakubov whether there were photographs of women during the identification procedure. The victim said that there were. 

The defense believes that the identification during the pre-trial investigation was conducted with gross violations.

According to Article 230 of the Criminal Procedure Code, "the person to be identified is presented to the identifying person along with other persons of the same sex who do not have significant differences in appearance and clothing."

The victim was given 348 photographs for identification (312 images of men and 36 of women). The people in the photographs also had significant differences in clothing and appearance in general (age, nationality, hairstyle, etc.). 

Lawyer Mendeshev, therefore, petitioned the judge to declare the identification reports involving Mamatkobul Yakubov and Vikram Ruzahunov inadmissible evidence. 

The "Meat Grinder"

Yakubov made it clear that he clearly remembers everyone in the dock. He recalled each of their actions in Koshmambet's specialized detention center.

For example, Aidarkhanov accompanied the detainees when they were taken outside to a restroom because there were problems with the sewerage in the cell. Turpanbayev was in the room where the detainees were subject to interrogations. 

Yakubov said Khamitov, Sopakov, and Shoibekov were the most memorable and physically assaulted the detainees. Abilbekov did not, however. He was present at an interrogation and was presumably in the same room as Turpanbayev. 

They didn't tell me which office. They just dragged me. While they were dragging me, they hit me, and then they took me back - they beat me too. I can't say what kind of office it was. There was a grate, a table and two chairs. 'Meat grinder' - I didn't come up with that, the guys came up with that, they were also beaten. I saw Turpanbayev there. I saw Abilbekov one day, they were together, Yakubov said.

On January 7, 2022, he was also stopped at a checkpoint. Military personnel confiscated his money – 17,300,000 tenge. He explained that he was engaged in entrepreneurial activity and was ready to provide documentation confirming that the money was earned legally. When he was released, only his documents and phone were returned. He never saw his money again. 

Yakubov's story confirmed the testimony of other victims. 

On the way to Koshmambet, there were several threats of physical violence. They went as far as threatening to shoot everyone. 

At the detention center, the detainees were forced to walk through two lines of law enforcement officers and military personnel: they beat them with batons and other items.

On the night of the arrest, officers did not ask any questions, did not bring forward charges, they simply assaulted people. 

They began interrogations on the second day, continuing to use physical force.

For several days, the detainees did not receive water or food. Yakubov says they gave people food on January 11. But he could not eat anything for a week due to his injuries. 

Berik Abilbekov and his defense attorney attempted to learn every detail about how Yakubov remembered and identified the former Almaty PD deputy head.

In 2023, Yakubov said that Abilbekov was in Koshmambet after a chance meeting in the Qonayev city prosecutor's office. His face seemed familiar, and he remembered seeing him in the detention center. 

Your photos were not shown to me. We met face-to-face in Qonayev. I remembered that I saw you in Koshmambet. I was invited (to Qonayev) by the specialized prosecutor, Yakubov said.

Yakubov said he later studied materials on the Internet related to the January events, from which he learned the name and position of a high-ranking police officer.

Abilbekov asked what date he saw him in Koshmambet. 

The first and second days. Three years have passed. They dragged the case out for three years. I can't remember everything. I can tell you approximately. And maybe on the third day. You ask what underwear you were wearing, dear sir. Three years have passed, and you want to catch me on nonsense, said Yakubov. 

"My Legs Hurt"

Yakubov said that Arman Shoibekov assaulted him more than others. Shoibekov's lawyer asked what parts of the body his client hit. 

He hit me everywhere. Of course, it wasn't just Shoibekov who tried. He wasn't the only one who did the beatings. He beat me, he just walked by and kicked me. He told someone who was nearby that he was tired, that his legs hurt from kicking. That's how he joked, Yakubov said.

He also said that Shoibekov broke his nose: 

I fell once. They said I was faking and ordered me to get up. Shoibekov lifted my face and hit me in the nose with his elbow. I saw his face. My nose was broken.

The man recalled that there was another detainee named Lowe next to him, whom the defendant allegedly also abused. Shoibekov's lawyer petitioned that Lowe be invited to court as a witness because his testimony differed from these recollections.

Yakubov spoke well of Olzhas Aidarkhanov. 

From my perspective, I have only positive impressions of him,  he said.

He remembered Baurzhan Sopakov as the employee he asked to call to get a doctor. 

I said, let me make one call, I’ll pay you a million tenge.

When the questioning was wrapping up, Yakubov stated that the defendants had put pressure on him:

The defendants asked to conclude a procedural agreement. There were calls, threats (it's all recorded). I know very well at what level they wanted to settle these cases, who they involved. They sent their messengers abroad. After the new year, I will begin to gradually publish these facts. I am ready to confirm all this with my life.

Presiding judge Dinmukhamed Adaibayev told Yakubov it was his legal right to publicize all the facts.

No Grievances

Berik Abilbekov's lawyer, Farida Ilyasova, asked the judge to request the original materials of the criminal case.

For several sessions, she has been asking to present the court with the originals of Vikram Ruzahunov's statement and explanatory note. In it, he wrote that he has no claims against the law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan.

There is alleged evidence on the back of the documents that he wrote them without being pressured. 

I have repeatedly filed a motion to request the original materials of the criminal case. Certified copies have been attached to the case materials. When copying the documents, the investigator did not remove the back of the explanatory note and the statement that Ruzahunov wrote in the presence of the ambassador and a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic. In his testimony, Ruzahunov said that he wrote them under pressure. And in this regard, journalists again published all this as it was interpreted in their understanding. Therefore, I ask that investigator of the Karasay District Police Department, Kartay, and senior investigator of the Anti-Corruption Service Department for Almaty Region, Sarsengaliyev, be summoned to the courtroom. Clarification of this fact is extremely important for the case under consideration, since Ruzahunov reluctantly admitted that the ambassador and the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were present when both the statement and the explanatory note were drawn up. Please note that the copies of the documents are not fastened together, they are seperate, noted Ilyasova. 

The judge rejected the motion. The question of the original documents remained open. 

Serik Turpanbayev's lawyer, Yerlan Mendeshev, declared three examinations of medical documents provided by Yakubov unlawful.

Three examinations were conducted with respect to the medical documents presented by Yakubov. The initial examination was conducted by the Ili District Justice Department of Almaty. And there are two commission examinations. The first expert did not provide an assessment of the x-rays. The conclusion of the first examination was given without justification. The second examination did not provide an assessment of the bodily injuries caused at all. The third examination was based on documents from uninvolved medical specialists, said the lawyer.

He claims the victim underwent a medical examination at Yemirmed in 2023. The results, according to Mendeshev, do not correspond to the information previously provided by the victim:

According to the protocol, he was found to have consolidating fractures of the middle sections of the seventh and eighth ribs on the left without displacement. This contradicts the documents presented by Yakubov. In this regard, I ask that the court summon and question the experts.

Justice!

In conclusion, Farida Ilyasova once again raised the issue that the victims were given such a status illegally.

The victim's representative, the director of the public foundation "International Legal Initiative" Aina Shormanbaeva, decided to voice her opinion:

As a representative of the victims, I would like to clarify. Even in the absence of complaints, if there is reason to believe that a person has become a torture victim, any state, including Kazakhstan, fulfilling its international obligations, is obliged to investigate these facts and recognize people as victims. Even if there were no statements from these people, they should have all been recognized as victims back in 2022. And not the 44 people involved in the case, but all 99 who were detained. This is a shortcoming of the investigation. They were all held in the same institution and subjected to the same torture. Victims have the right to justice in accordance with national and international standards. We demand justice for the victims!  the human rights activist said. 

After the hearing, she told our journalist there was no need to question Mamatkobul Yakubov, as he had already given testimony. 

To call the court again, to question, to re-traumatize means to cause even more harm to the victims after torture. And today we saw that this is indeed psychologically very difficult for the victims. And there was no need for this. The questions were the same ones that were already asked during previous interrogations during the investigation, that is, there was no new information. We believe that this is pressure on the victim.

Original Author: Aliya Askarova

The original article was published on 13/11/24. This is a translated piece. For accuracy, please refer to the original article in Russian.