Three officers from Tajikistan suspected of torturing teen boy

Three police officers are under investigation in the Tajik capital on suspicion of torturing a 15-year-old boy, Dushanbe's chief prosecutor said Wednesday.

Photo: Three officers from Tajikistan suspected of torturing teen boy

Kurbonali Mukhabbatov said the three officers had detained the teenager last month while investigating a robbery and held him for "a long period" without informing his relatives.

The teenager, who denied his involvement in the robbery, was beaten, forced to hold a chair with his arms stretched up and possibly tortured with electric shock, Mukhabbatov told reporters.

He said the criminal case against the three officers was opened Jan. 26 and they were expected to be formally charged and arrested in the next few days, the AP reports.

If convicted, the officers, whose names weren't disclosed, could face up to 10 years in prison.

A November report by the United Nations Committee Against Torture cited Tajik officials as saying that between 2004 and 2006 the Central Asian country's courts considered about 160 cases involving torture.