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Why survivors of sexual violence can't get justice in Kyrgyzstan
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Date: None

Despite the fact that the forensic examination confirmed that Amina was raped, Ruslan was acquitted on grounds of "insufficient evidence". According to Amina, his parents bribed the investigator, prosecutor and judge.

After the trial, Amina closed in on herself. She would cry from fatigue, stress and despair. Her emotional state was also made worse by her relatives and neighbours, who kept reminding Amina of what had happened, scolding her and claiming that she "deserved her punishment".

Seeing her daughter's suffering, her mother decided to send the girl to Moscow to stay with relatives for several months. She was afraid that Amina might still be in danger, since Ruslan was at large. In addition, the girl needed to regain her health and avoid thinking about what had happened.

Meanwhile, Amina's mother, along with human rights defenders and lawyers, started contacting the courts again.

Amina said: "We didn't give up trying to get justice and appealed to the regional court. The first time around, he [Ruslan] managed to pay his way out of trouble, but this time the case was considered by three judges. He never admitted his guilt, and tried to convince everyone that I wasn't against sleeping with him. He could have asked for forgiveness, or said that he did something stupid and regretted it. But I never heard anything like that."

In the end, Ruslan was sentenced to ten years in prison. The other two men involved in the kidnapping were never brought to justice.

Protecting the rapist

According to human rights lawyer Yevgenia Krapivina, proving sexual abuse is not an easy task. Forensic and biological examinations are the main source of evidence, but Kyrgyzstan’s police still do not carry out a DNA examination in cases of sexual violence.

"If the victim, in a state of emotional distress, either took a shower out of ignorance or destroyed items that could have contained traces of a crime, then the likelihood of bringing the offender to justice is reduced to zero. The victim may not have signs of bodily harm, and then investigators begin to believe in a scenario of mutual consent to intimacy," Krapivina explained.

"A psychological and psychiatric examination is needed. But it's rarely done, and then only at the request of the victim's representative – even though the investigators' manual says they should do this. If the examination is carried out, the investigators are not interested in what kind of suffering the victim has endured. Instead, they ask questions such as 'Are women prone to lying?'"

Women have to convince the investigating and judicial authorities that they are telling the truth. A separate problem is the need to repeat their testimony several times, in all its humiliating details. Kyrgyzstan's criminal code does not prohibit additional interrogation, and this approach can re-traumatise a survivor. First, the woman is interrogated by the police, then by an investigator, and then she must testify in court. Investigators can interrogate survivors as if they themselves were the criminals. This approach significantly reduces the level of trust in the investigation.

"Victims often experience violence when they are asked the wrong kind of questions during an interrogation," Krapivina added. "They may be asked: 'What were you wearing?' 'Why did you go out to him?' 'If he paid for dinner, did you understand how it could end?' 'Why didn't you scream?' The woman has to go through this kind of treatment, in addition to being raped. As a result, the victim can be brought to the point where she says: 'No, he did not rape me.'"

Survivors also need psychological help, because this kind of experience has life-long consequences. But in Kyrgyzstan there are no programmes for rehabilitating survivors of rape, and private psychologists are expensive. The most you can hope for is moral compensation, and that's only if the rapist is found guilty.

"A rape investigation can drag on for years. At some point, the victim does not have the strength to fight the system," Krapivina said.

"It is easier for them to close in on themselves and cope with the trauma on their own. At the same time, you cannot say that the courts are passing incorrect sentences. The judge makes a decision on the basis of the case presented to him. Violations committed in the collection of evidence are interpreted in favour of the accused. The poorer the quality of the forensic examination, the more norms that can be questioned, the more likely it is that the case will fall apart in court and the culprit will go unpunished."

Help is available in Kyrgyzstan in the form of private crisis centres, and human rights defenders who provide free legal and psychosocial assistance. But these resources are sorely lacking.

Culture of violence

In Kyrgyzstan, only a few survivors of sexual violence dare to tell their stories. This halo of silence aggravates the situation of the victims and plays into the hands of the perpetrators.

Larisa Ilibezova, head of the Center for Research on Democratic Processes NGO, says that the country's "culture of violence" is to blame for the way sexual violence is normalised and justified.

"In Kyrgyzstan, a woman is often viewed as an object," Ilibezova said. "If this object violates generally accepted 'rules' – she put on the wrong skirt, got into the wrong taxi, returned home too late – and then is raped, then she will be to blame for this. A woman is obliged to keep her honour and if something happened to her, it means 'she went looking for it'. It's in our culture."

"The victim may think ‘I behaved wrongly, I am guilty, everyone will condemn me’ and thereforedecides to remain silent about the experience. At the same time, a woman has a right. The right to choose whether to go public or not. But in any case, the emergency services should be like beacons that provide a light around the clock for everyone who needs help. Only then will people reach for such ‘beacons’ and not be afraid to talk about violence,” Ilibezova continued.

If survivors are confident that there's somewhere to turn for help, it becomes much easier to track crimes, said Byubyusara Ryskulova, a crisis centre director and human rights activist. She believes it's necessary to develop zero tolerance for violence, to believe the woman and to actively punish aggressors.

"Many people say that we, human rights defenders, are overly dramatising the situation when we talk about the problem of sexual violence. But if we stop talking about it, the problem will not go away," Ryskulova said.

"Rape is, first of all, a crime – it cannot be acceptable or justified. Everyone who wants to commit such a crime should know that he will not be able to avoid responsibility, by making peace with the victim after the events."

Ideally, the Kyrgyzstani state should assume responsibility for protecting survivors of sexual violence. The courts and law enforcement agencies should not pander to gender stereotypes. Survivors, instead of feeling guilty and powerless, should know that the law is on their side. Only when every rape is followed by inevitable punishment can survivors finally feel protected.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/why-victims-sexual-violence-cant-get-justice-kyrgyzstan/