As Britain looks to introduce chemical castration for paedophiles and other sex offenders, Khazakhstan is set to move away from the policy.
Dozens of brutal child sex offenders have been forcibly injected in the ex-Soviet state in recent years.
Among them is Saidolim Gayibnazarov, 48, who raped and killed five-year-old Erkezhan Nurmakhan, and was sentenced to chemical castration during his lengthy prison term.
Another, Berik Zholdasov, was castrated after raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter. Tragically, he inflicted such serious injuries that doctors had to remove her womb.
Zholdasov had threatened to kill her if she told her mother.
A judge sentenced him to 25 years in a maximum security jail and ordered him to undergo ‘forcible chemical castration’.
Last year 11 paedophiles in a single region of Kazakhstan were sentenced to compulsory chemical castration.
All the men ‘committed crimes against the sexual inviolability of minors’ in Kostanay region.
Dozens of brutal child sex offenders have been forcibly injected in Kazakhstan in recent years
Last year 11 paedophiles in a single region of Kazakhstan were sentenced to compulsory chemical castration
But the country is now moving in a different direction to curb sex attacks on children – by enforcing whole life sentences rather than chemical castration
Nurse Zoya Manaenko – in her 70s – was pictured conducting the procedure by injecting a paedophile convict in a Kazakhstan prison medical unit.
But the country is now moving in a different direction to curb sex attacks on children in a way that the government believes will be more effective.
Until now, critics say that many of those condemned to chemical castration were incarcerated and as such posed no immediate threat to children.
New laws will instead enforce life-means-life sentences for men who rape or violently sexually attack children, as well as for killers of minors.
Such moves will take paedophiles off the streets permanently, say proponents, which means there is no need to chemically castrate them.
Currently, Kazakhstan publishes maps to highlight where paedophiles who were previously freed from jail now reside.
In future, child sex attackers will not be freed.
Kazakhstan MP Sekikhan Zhakupov, 40, convicted of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy, might have faced chemical castration but is now jailed for life and will not be allowed out, according to reports.
Five-year-old Erkezhan Nurmakhan was brutally raped and killed by Erkezhan Nurmakhan
Critics say that many of those condemned to chemical castration were incarcerated and as such posed no immediate threat to children
The government is now looking to implement life-means-life sentences for men who rape or violently sexually attack children, as well as for killers of minors. Pictured: Ust Kamenogorsk prison in Kazakhstan
Saidolim Gayibnazarov, 48, raped and killed five-year-old Erkezhan Nurmakhan, and was sentenced to chemical castration during his lengthy prison term
Erkezhan Nurmakhan pictured while incarcerated. Offenders like him now face life-means-life sentences instead of chemical castration
Critics of the castration regime said that it depended on a medical diagnosis of paedophelia which was often not forthcoming in cases where family members were the predators. Others pointed to the need for constant top-up injections and unintended side-effects
Kazakhstan MP Sekikhan Zhakupov, 40, convicted of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy, might have faced chemical castration but is now jailed for life and will not be allowed out, according to reports
Critics of the castration regime said that it depended on a medical diagnosis of paedophelia which was often not forthcoming in specific cases, including where family members were the predators.
Others said the need for constant top-up injections meant it was an ineffective solution, while some complained it resulted in unintended side-effects.
Elnur Beisenbaev, an MP and executive secretary of the ruling Amanat Party, accused the government of being ‘spineless’ and pandering to paedophiles by failing to insist on ‘surgical castration’.
‘Unfortunately, [sex crimes against children] are happening more and more often,’ he said, suggesting chemical castration – which lowers the male libido through injected anti-androgen drugs – was not as effective as initially thought.
‘By letting a rapist go free, we allow them to reoffend,’ he said.
”We don’t suggest applying it to all paedophiles, but we’d like to give courts an option of having surgical castration.
‘If a paedophile attack is especially cruel, I believe surgical castration must be applied…’
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had demanded action against rising domestic violence and child abuse cases.
The new laws are seen as a more effective means of combating paedophiles, with tougher sentences acting as a disincentive to would-be offenders.
