In Uzbekistan, systematic bullying forces prisoners to commit suicide

Uzbek human rights activists sent several letters from prisoners from Namangan region to the ACCA editorial office about the situation in penal colony No.6. All names are genuine and published with their consent. Excerpts are given with translation into Russian from messages to the administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the colony. We publish the text of letters with a small revision.

Lochinbek Foyziev. “… I am writing this statement because the senior of detachment transferred me from the 5th detachment to the 8th detachment for no reason. I wanted to find out the reason for my transfer and went to the room of the senior officer. There were a “regime officer” (assistant to the head of the security department – ed.), Atham, and the senior of detachment. I told him that there were no violations, there was no reason for my transfer to another detachment. The senior officer told me that he didn’t need any reason, that he was in charge here and would do whatever he wanted. I said that I would go to the “boss” (the head of the colony – ed.) and find out the reason for the transfer. The senior officer replied that the boss was listening to him, he would draw up an act and they would beat me hard. I told him that yesterday a convict wanted to hang himself because he was constantly bullied. Why are you doing this? He has relatives, who are waiting for him at home. The senior officer told me that mockery of the convicts gave him pleasure. “You are alone here and you won’t be able to change anything”, the senior officer told me and began to laugh. “Why are you laughing? I am not a monkey. There is nothing funny! I’ll go now and hang myself if it gives you joy”, I told the senior officer. “Go! Do what you want! I’ll do an act on one sheet of paper, and no more bother”, the senior officer answered me.

I left the room and went to hang myself. The guys saw this. I regained consciousness in the medical unit, then the operative Ilkhom asked me what happened. I told him everything. He gave me a paper so that I wrote that I began to hang myself because it was boring. I didn’t sign any papers. They laid the guilt at my door and gave me 10 days in a punishment cell. The operatives, Zhamshid and Ilkhom, began to beat and insult me, they said that I would be here until the end of my life. “If no one hears me, please issue a fair decree. We are people too!”

Utkir Khasanov. “I am serving a sentence in KИН-6, where the representatives of the colony have a psychological and physical pressure on me, which I can no longer bear. This situation forces me to lay hands on myself (suicide). If it’s possible, help me! I want you to talk to me in a calm atmosphere.”

Kamiljon Gulmurzaev. “Now I am an invalid of the second group due to serious bodily injuries. They still continue to “press” me in the colony. If I ask other convicts to help me with anything or if they talk to me, then they will be punished. Therefore, everyone is afraid to communicate with me or to help me. Even in the medical unit, the doctors, acting in collusion, scorn me.

I was twice in the isolation ward for 25 days, where I was very cold and ill. But no one pays attention to my condition. How long will this situation continue? I am constantly monitored by an employee of the colony Diezjon, who forces other convicts to beat me. I am very worried about my health. I urge our President to help me.”

A similar letter was written by the prisoner Shohrukh Zhuraev, a disabled person of the second group. According to the prisoners, they are ashamed to describe some methods of bullying, they even hide them from each other. The names of the torturers are not always obtained. In the rare answers of the Prosecutor’s office to complaints, their data is also missing. In the traditional formal reply, there is always a statement that the facts have not been confirmed.

The practice of torture and restriction of access to medical care continue in Uzbekistan. Slave labor and difficult working conditions in prisons lead to injuries. The announced reforms don’t provide an urgent response to state monitoring services. Human rights defenders recorded flagrant violations of human rights in penal colony No.42 (Zangiata district of Tashkent region), in which women prisoners were forced to go to pick cotton.

Earlier, ACCA published information in which a representative of the secretariat of the authorized parliament for human rights, Saidbek Azimov, announced 300 monitoring actions in prisons. Their formal nature explains the lawlessness of the colony’s employees in Uzbekistan.