«The situation in the pre-trial detention center in Kazakhstan practically does not change» - а member of the Coordination Council of the NPM Asiya Nurpeisova
Experts discussed what is happening in Kazakhstan's pre-trial detention centers during the presentation of the summary report of the participants of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) on the results of preventive visits conducted in 2019-2020. As a member of the Coordinating Council of the NPM, the head of the group of NPM participants in the Aktobe region, Asiya Nurpeisova, during 2019-2020, NPM participants conducted 61 visits to pre-trial detention centers.
Asiya Nurpeisova stressed that the situation in pre-trial detention centers practically does not change, recommendations based on the results of visits are only partially implemented by institutions of this type. As in previous years, most human rights violations are related to the conditions of detention.
According to A. Nurpeisova, places of detention are often overcrowded and are old buildings with unsanitary conditions making them unsuitable for living.
«The management of the institutions and departments of the penal system are taking measures to bring the conditions of detention in line with the requirements of international standards and national legislation, mainly through cosmetic repairs, but systemic problems remain unaddressed», - the speaker notes.
Speaking about the material and technical condition of the pre-trial detention center, the expert draws attention to the fact that there are no cells for holding disabled people in almost all the isolators. There is overcrowding, shortage, and deterioration of the furniture.
Among the gross violations of the conditions of detention, insufficient artificial and natural lighting, the lack of forced supply and exhaust ventilation, the necessary means to maintain cleanliness in the cells, a malfunction of the heating system, and other similar problems.
«These violations are recorded by the NPM participants from year to year. Their elimination does not require large funds and could be solved by the leadership of the institutions from the means of budget savings», - Asiya Nurpeisova said.
Most complaints from persons under investigation and convicts are related to the low quality of the provision, and often the lack of access to medical care. Among the serious violations, the speaker attributed the understaffing of medical personnel, superficial examinations and incomplete provision of medicines, ignoring the call of a medical worker, lack of control over the treatment of diseases requiring continuous treatment.
In addition, food in the isolation wards is generally of poor quality, which is why most prefer to eat homemade food. Often, separate accommodation is not provided in cells for smokers from non-smokers.
«In all chambers, as a rule, there are information boards with the duties of suspects and accused, but there is no information about their legal rights.
Facts are indicating a lack of feedback between the administration of institutions and those under investigation/convicted. Despite the ongoing explanatory work among the staff of the institutions, torture, violence, and other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment by the staff take place. Several institutions do not have boxes for filing confidential complaints about the actions of the institution's administration», - said a member of the NPM Coordinating Council.
Thus, Nurpeisova believes, modern realities require accelerating the reform of the penitentiary system of the Republic of Kazakhstan through a constructive study of the activities of penitentiary institutions.
As for recommendations for authorized bodies for 2021, the expert suggested the following:
1) Solve the construction of buildings for institutions;
2) To supplement the Criminal Executive Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan with a new section 7 – «Procedure and conditions for keeping persons in special institutions providing temporary isolation from society»;
3) Develop a mechanism for attracting specialists from civil health care by stimulating their work;
4) Prescribe in normative legal acts the basic guarantees of protection against torture of persons deprived of their liberty:
- the detainee's right to notify the third party of his or her choice of his or her detention; the right to have access to a lawyer;
5) Provide the opportunity to exercise the right to be examined by a doctor of their choice;
6) Allow independent medical examination without police or prosecutorial intervention at all stages of criminal proceedings, provide for independent medical examination of persons deprived of their liberty upon admission to or transfer between places of detention;
7) Ensure the true independence of medical personnel in places of detention by transferring from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
As a reminder, NPM serves as a form of public control of the closed state institutions that work to identify and prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
The task of the experts involved in the work of NPM is to regularly visit places where people are isolated from society, and monitor the implementation of their rights and freedoms. The year 2020 has marked a successful seven-year period of NPM activity in Kazakhstan, coordinated by the Office of Commissioner for Human Rights with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other international organizations.
In addition to pre-trial detention centers, the institutions visited by the NPM members also include prisons, police stations, drug treatment clinics, health care organizations for orphans, centers for the provision of special social services for the elderly and disabled people of groups 1 and 2, etc.
For 2019-2020 NPM participants conducted 1,012 preventive visits that covered all types of closed institutions in Kazakhstan.