Ukrainian Assaulted by Kazakhstani Police Unable to Achieve Justice

An arrested Ukrainian citizen spoke out about systematic assault and extortion by Talgar police officers, Orda.kz reports.

Mikhail Chudakov was arrested for "illegal cultivation of prohibited plants containing narcotic substances" in early 2024. On the roof of his house in the village of Besagash, Almaty Region DCDC (UPN) PD officers found marijuana that he was growing hydroponically. On January 16, he was taken into custody and put in the Talgar District Police Department's temporary detention facility.

Chudakov first reported being assaulted by police officers on February 1. The facility's staff dismissed his requests to call a doctor to the temporary detention facility. His lawyer also filed a petition to examine her client medically. However, it was denied. The police did not explain why. 

Only after Chudakov became unwell was an ambulance called to the detention center. After examining him, doctors diagnosed him with a closed left-side chest injury. With an official ambulance record, doctors, therefore, confirmed Chudakov was assaulted. 

The arrested man claims the second assault was committed by employees of a Talgar temporary detention facility on May 27, 2024. 

Due to Mikhail Chudakov's poor health, we had to call 103 and get an ambulance. They provided him with first aid and diagnosed him with a closed craniocerebral injury, concussion, periorbital hematoma, and a contusion of the left eye. We wrote to the Talgar District Prosecutor's Office regarding the assaults so that they would take action against the police officers of the temporary detention facility. We attached a certificate from the district hospital, said his lawyer, Karina Seitkozhanova.

Only after this, on May 27, 2024, was this fact registered at the Talgar District Police Department and sent to the district prosecutor's office.

Two days later, this material reached the Internal Security Directorate of the Almaty Region Police Department. 

But investigator Anastasia Atapina did not bother and sent the case materials to the administrative police department of the Almaty region. <...> This is not petty hooliganism, so should it be reported to the administrative police? The young man was assaulted not by detainees like him but by police officers. And we have proven this fact by his repeated appeals to the Talgar district central hospital and the 103 service,the lawyer said.

Seitkozhanova states that according to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan, "On Law Enforcement Service," the investigator should have registered the statement in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations of the Almaty Region Police Department. Then, they should have immediately begun an official investigation. The detention facility employees' actions indicate signs of a criminal offense. 

The bodily injuries that Chudakov sustained while in the temporary detention facility of the Talgar City Police Department, I think, are sufficient to initiate a criminal case not only on the fact of assault. Also, Atapina did not come to Chudakov, did not take an explanatory note from him, and did not order a forensic medical examination. That is, the employee of the regional internal security department, despite the fact that the materials contain facts of a criminal offense with supporting documents on sustaining bodily injuries, deliberately sent the materials to the APD, explains Seitkozhanova.

The lawyer believes that the actions of the Almaty Region Internal Security Department investigator, Anastasia Atapina, point to concealment: 

I think she intentionally concealed a criminal offense committed by the employees of the temporary detention facility of the Talgar city police department against a person, and my client asks to bring them to criminal liability. Also, to this day, neither the APD employees who have the material nor the employees of the Internal Security Directorate have made a decision on the statement. In this regard, I ask that the actions of the Internal Security Directorate employees in transferring the CRB material to the APD of the Almaty Region DP be recognized as illegal. Register the statement in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations and issue a statistical card "concealed" in the APC URPI by failing to register in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations. Take prosecutorial response measures to the actions of the employees of the Internal Security Directorate of the Almaty Region. 

Orda will continue to monitor the situation.

Original Author: Sandugash Duysenova

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. For accuracy, please refer to the original article in Russian published on 20/08/24.