Turkmenistan: dead from COVID-19 are removed from colonies in garbage trucks

The President of Turkmenistan signed a decree to pardon convicts in honor of the holy night of the Almighty among Muslims. According to the decree, 210 foreign citizens and 1192 citizens of Turkmenistan were released. The ACCA journalist, on condition of anonymity, talked with some who were released.

 – Have prison conditions changed due to the economic crisis and COVID-19 pandemic?

– Yes, and very seriously. In prison, food prices increased several times, even for those that we bought in the prison canteen. Tea is only for sale, and prisoners have not been drinking tea in the canteen for 4 months. The price for tea has tripled. Since January, there has been no white bread in the canteen, only rye read. Ration of bread were reduced in half, prisoners are always half-starved. Sugar disappeared completely. Sometimes sugar is brought to the colony and only for sale, although the products are given by the state for the maintenance of prisoners, but the prison staff makes money on everything.

– Do relatives come to prisoners or send food?

– At large now, the situation is also difficult. Everything, that happens behind the barbed wire, affects life in prison. At the beginning of 2019, the number of parcels decreased, and we all felt it on ourselves. Before, prisoners shared products among themselves, and now every man for himself and lends products to each other. Several years ago, in each detachment there was one person who monitored the safety of food. Now there are 3-4 such people and anyway prisoners steal products from each other, almost every day there is a showdown over who and what stole from whom. In February of this year, meetings with relatives were completely banned, and we all fully felt this on ourselves. The whole prison is in a half-starved state.

– And how do prisoners manage this situation?

– They started to catch and eat wild pigeons and do not even disdain sparrows, some have not seen normal food for several months, I heard that a cat was eaten in a tuberculous hut. So what to do? In the beginning and in the mid-2000s, prisoners ate all living creatures in prisons. Then, there was a horrible hunger, the prisoners died of volvulus; they had been visited semiannually. Soon we will see such a picture. Take my word for it, it’s very difficult there now.

– How did the colony staff treat you?

– When the colonies were quarantined and they were left without earnings, they mocked us as they could. And when severe flu started in December, they didn’t come closer to us than 3 meters. Then it became easier, they try not to enter the zone and sit in their offices.

– Can you tell us more about this flu?

– Yes, somehow it all happened, we were even surprised. At first, the colony officers stopped searching our rooms, then they stopped coming close to us, after each personal search, the officers forced their employees to bathe. Then suddenly the whole colony went to X-ray and even the colony staff was examined. A week later, everyone was vaccinated. We were gathered and the head of the colony said that deadly flu was out of prison, and everyone should maintain hygiene. By the way, before, all the employees of the colony were examined in ordinary hospitals, but this time they made X-ray in the colony.

– Were the colonies quarantined to reduce the number of patients?

– The colonies were closed so that the infection didn’t go beyond the fence. A little less than half of the zone had and still have this flu. The doctors told us in confidence that this is not the flu, but a new disease Corona-kesel (Corona disease).

– So, there is a coronavirus epidemic in the colony, isn’t it?

– A real epidemic. In one of the detachments, they made an additional infirmary. All the prisoners with strong cough and fever were transferred there, they were even forbidden to go for examination. At first, everyone envied them and said that it would be good to get sick and lie there. But, when a month later, they started to take out dead bodies from there, everyone immediately lost the desire to lie there.

– Were these bodies of those sick prisoners?

– Yes, the colony officers themselves took away the dead somewhere, the bodies were not given to relatives. We all argued and guessed at what was really happening. The colony officers didn’t tell us anything, they just beat us for such questions and put us in a punishment cell. In the colony, everyone was afraid. Someone was talking about chemical weapons, someone about biological weapons, someone about a charm …

– Can you tell how many prisoners died from coronavirus?

– In total, 14 prisoners died. I can’t say precisely. Some prisoners died at night and were immediately taken away somewhere in a garbage truck.

– Were the deceased taken out in ordinary garbage trucks?

– Yes, no one give a hearse upholstered in velvet for them.

– What medicines were given to patients? How were they treated?

– I didn’t see it myself, but according to the patients, they didn’t give them any medicine. Once a week, they fumigated the room with a harmel. The patients shouted that they couldn’t breathe anymore, and they were suffocating with smoke. The patients lay separately. They gave drugs only to those patients whose relatives transferred money to the prison staff’s phone or sent them through taxi drivers to their home.

– Did any of the prison staff die from coronavirus?

– Yes, two of them died. One was a security guard. I heard that he was drafted into the army in November last year. The second one was a sergeant at the zone. He was also ill, but his boss didn’t give him sick leave. Then, he disappeared, and we learned about his death. If they treat their own staff badly, what can we say about us?

– Among those who were released, were also patients with a coronavirus?

– When we were gathered and taken to the station, there were several people who couldn’t move, and their fellow-townsmen carried them in their hands. At the station, we were loaded into a day coach and taken to the regions.

– Were they disabled?

– No, there were no disabled people among us. They were patients from the infirmary, they were unable to move. They had a coronavirus.

– And did you all travel in the same coach?

– Yes, they closed us in the coach, and the convoy was into the next coach. My wife met me at home and immediately asked about my health if I had a temperature. When I started talking about coronavirus with my family, my mother interrupted me and said that there is no virus in our country. When I looked at her to my surprise, she said that she didn’t want to see me again in prison, since the country’s authorities forbade to talk about coronavirus. When the borders are open and planes begin to fly, I decided that I would leave this country forever.