The fifth day continues the hunger strike in colony-7 (Tavaksay, Tashkent region) prisoner Sarvar Tashmukhamedov. The reason was the beating by the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in retaliation for communicating with human rights activists.
On July 1, the leader of the human rights group, Klara Sakharova, and the head of the Open Line group, Tatyana Dovlatova, attempted to conduct alternative monitoring of the state of affairs in the colony and assess the situation with Tashmukhamedov, who had previously turned to them for help in transferring to the sanitary unit of KIN-23.
The transfer took place, but in retaliation, he was subsequently beaten. To check the facts, the human rights activists arrived at the colony, but only one of them was allowed to visit, along with the mother of the convict and the lawyer. Moreover, the head of KIN-7, Sharafutdin Usmanov, at first categorically refused to hold a meeting. The intervention of Deputy Interior Minister Rustam Tursunov after a call to the department for the execution of sentences of the department helped. The requirement to provide a medical report was ignored by the colony authorities and, in addition, the power supply was turned off in the visiting room. Due to the intense heat, the meeting had to be interrupted.
Sharafutdin Usmanov was enraged by the annoying activists and decided to take revenge on the prisoner. After the meeting, he ordered Tashmukhamedov to be isolated for 15 days, and he immediately went on a hunger strike. The chief assured the prisoner that he would soon be in the “harem”.
As Klara Sakharova explained, in some correctional institutions there is a separate room where prisoners are sent immediately after violent homosexual contact. Depending on the correctional institution, this may be called a “cockerel house” or “chicken coop”, “offended” or “nunnery”. In this case, Sarvar is doomed to the dirtiest work, automatically becoming “untouchable” for the convicts as well.
“We hope that the Ombudsman and the official human rights organization Ezgulik will pay more attention to bullying and torture in penitentiary institutions,” Klara Sakharova told an ACCA journalist.
According to Ezgulik, there are currently no complaints of torture or ill-treatment.
