Restrictive regime of custody of Rafis Gaiulin in the
Dzhezkazgan prison colony of Kazakhstan is extended the second time by six
months.
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| Rafis Gaiulin |
Rafis Rafitovich GALIULIN was born on 29 December 1970 in the city of
Tselinograd (currently Astana) of Kazakhstan. He is married, has three
children. He is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir international political party, which
is prohibited in Kazakhstan and does not hide his beliefs. He has been in
prison since October 2009.
On 3 August 2010, Galiulin was sentenced to 7 years of
imprisonment under
the following Articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan:
— 164, Part 2 (Incitement
of Social, National, Tribal, Racial, or Religious Enmity);
— 233-1, Part 1 (Promotion
of terrorism or public appeals to commit a terrorism offence, and equal
distribution of materials of mentioned contents);
— 337-1, Part 1 (Organisation
of the activity of a public or a religious association or another organisation,
in respect of which there is a court decision which took legal effect about the
prohibition of their activity or the liquidation on account of the
implementation of extremism by them);
— 337-1, Part 2 (Participation
in the activity of a public or a religious association or another organisation,
in respect of which there is a court decision which took legal effect about the
prohibition of their activity or the liquidation on account of the
implementation of extremism by them).
Rafis Galiulin appealed the sentence to the courts of
all instances including the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan.
Since 06.11.2014, he is serving his term in the
Dzhezkazgan coolly (prison No.159/25 of the Department for Management of the Correctional
System (ДУИС)) where he was
transferred from Prison No. LA-155/1 of the Almaty Regional office of the
Committee on Management of the Criminal Correctional System.
Restrictive regime of custody was applied to Rafis
Galaulin in November 2014 for six months following spread of his speech in the
internet. Many things indicate that this video ended up in the internet not
without involvement of the officers of the prison, who were interested in having
grounds to apply the restrictive regime of custody.
Immediately upon Galiulin’s arrival at the prison
colony No. 159/25 of the Department for Management of the Correctional System,
its employees suggested to him to refuse to comply with the terms of his
custody. He realised that this was a provocation and did not accept their “advice”.
In response, 10 masked men beat up Galiulin with batons and demanded that he
recorded a video message. Fearing for his already failing health, he appeared
in the video. Galiulin knew in advance that such “violations” of the law attract
extension of the sentence term or more restrictive regime of custody.
In accordance with Articles 135-139 of the Criminal
Executive Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the strict regime of Galiulin’s custody
expired in May 2015. It was immediately extended for further six months. The official
reason was the discovery of razor blades, an article the prisoners are
prohibited to possess, among Rafis Galiulin’s things. According to our source,
the blade was planted among Galiulin’s things. It is worth noting that the
incident occurred just before the end of the first terms of the punitive measure.
In this manner, the authorities are carrying out their revenge on Galiulin for his
refusal to announce his disaffiliation with Hizb ut-Tahrir publicly.
Rafis Galiulin is subjected to pressure throughout his
prison sentence. The authorities applied a more restrictive regime of custody
with the aim of restricting his access to visits, communication via telephone
or in written form.
Numerous complaints of Rafis Galiulin’s family lead to
an internal investigation, which revealed abuses by the officers of the
administration. Following this, the regime of Galiulin’s custody was
temporarily relaxed, the pressure eased.
According to witnesses, Rafis Galiulin was prohibited
to perform religious rites during the holy month of Ramadan and he ate very
little. Galiulin is experiencing stomachaches with increasing frequency. His
eyesight is worsening, he is losing weight and his teeth are damaged.
Separation from his wife and children and the total
pressure on him, especially at the time when his sentence is coming to an end, resulted
in Rafis Galiulin’s depression. His family is extremely alarmed about his physical
and psychological condition. It is clear that Galiulin wrote his recent letters
under the supervision of the administration.
* * *
Association for Human Rights
in Central Asia (AHRCA) expresses its concern about Rafis Galiulin’s condition. In this regard,
we are sending reports to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the UN
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief recounting physical and psychological
exhaustion caused to the prisoner R. Galiulin persecuted for his religious
beliefs.
AHRCA calls on the government
of Kazakhstan to respect the Constitutional rights of its citizens.
Our previous publication on this topic:
— press release “Kazakhstan:a prisoner is tortured and forced to leave Khizb ut-Takhrir” dated 12 January
2015.
