Rehabilitation center for torture victims opens in Bishkek

A rehabilitation center for torture victims has opened here, the press service of the National Coalition Against Torture in Kyrgyzstan reported Tuesday.

Torture victims will receive medical, psychological, social and legal assistance at the center, said head of the center Tynchtykbek Asanov.

Both citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic as well as foreigners who have suffered from torture and ill-treatment are eligible to receive services at the center, he said.

Since 2007, a rehabilitation program of the Voice of Liberty Public Foundation, with the support of the United Nations Voluntary Fund and the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims in Kyrgyzstan, has been providing assistance to victims of torture in the republic.

Medical, psychological and social assistance has been provided to about 500 victims. Now this program has evolved into a center with six specialists: a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a sociologist, a psychotherapist, a therapist and a case manager, said the report.

The center was created with the support of Voice of Liberty and the Central Asian Alliance Against Dependence.

The center is reportedly the only center in Central Asia that provides assistance to victims of torture.

Sardar Bagishbekov, head of Voice of Liberty, said that a similar rehabilitation center is planned in the south of the country. Endi