Open Society Justice Initiative Commends Ruling on Prisoners' Rights in Kazakhstan, Calls for Investigation of Torture

ALMATY, Kazakhstan—The Open Society Justice Initiative today welcomed a recent ruling by Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council overturning a legal provision limiting the rights of prisoners who protested against widespread torture in prison. However, the group called on Kazakhstan's authorities to ensure a thorough investigation of complaints of widespread torture.

The law criminalized self-mutilation as disruptive of prison operations. Two dozen inmates had been charged with violating it after nearly 100 cut themselves to protest torture and officials' failure to address their complaints. The Constitutional Council found that the law violated the inmates' rights, including the right to freedom of expression. On March 14, a trial court then dismissed the case against the inmates, but failed to order the investigation of their complaints of abuse.

The Justice Initiative emphasized that torture remains widespread in Kazakhstan's prisons. The rights group called on Kazakhstan's government to investigate fully the prisoners' claims of torture and demonstrate that it is improving its systems for preventing, investigating, and punishing torture.

"The Constitutional Council's decision is a step in the right direction," said Robert O. Varenik, acting executive director of the Justice Initiative. "But the burden remains on the authorities, including the courts, to put an end to the pattern of torture, half-hearted investigation, and impunity that leads to scenarios such as the one we have just witnessed."

The Justice Initiative helped organize the defense of two of the inmates and submitted a brief to the Constitutional Council arguing that the law violated international human rights standards by denying the prisoners' right to freedom of expression.

Kazakhstan will become the first ex-Soviet state to lead the 56-country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe when it assumes the organization's rotating chairmanship in 2010.

"As it prepares to assume the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the challenge before the government of Kazakhstan is to demonstrate that it is breaking with the past," said Varenik. "If a nation seeks to lead, it must do so by example."