Uzbekistan: Prisoner cut his veins to protest bullying
On March 11, prisoner Madier Muminov, after numerous bullying, decided to be mutilated in penal colony No. 7 (Tashkent region). He managed to tell his mother, Salima Muminova, about this. She immediately contacted human rights activist Tatyana Dovlatova.
It turned out that physical and moral violence is especially characteristic of the guards Olim and Jasur. According to the mother of the prisoner, the reason for the forced self-mutilation is constant poking, dirty swearing, incessant threats of a punishment cell and an extension of the term. “They tell my son to choose for himself: either a punishment cell or a covered zone,” Salima clarifies. “Madier can no longer stand such persecution and is ready to die so as not to end up in a punishment cell.”
On March 14, Tatyana and Salima obtained an appointment at the Department for the execution of sentences under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and left the statement there about the cruel treatment of prisoners in the colony, encouraged by the head Sharafutdin Usmanov. His subordinates, in particular, the doctor of the colony, openly declared to Madier that he was scum. In a conversation with Tatyana, Salima noted that “the administration of the colony constantly says that only Madier is dissatisfied with everything in the colony, and the rest prisoners are satisfied with everything.”
In 2020, ACCA wrote about violence and torture in this colony. Then the editorial office received a letter from Dilbar Tashmukhamedova, in which she told about the abuse of her son Sarvar. It turned out that the ‘creativity’ of the guards wasn’t limited to prolonged beatings of prisoners: they broke their arms and put their heads into the hole in the closet. She also noted an openly mocking attitude towards relatives who were forced to queue up early in the morning, but get on a date with relatives in the late afternoon. Receipts of payment for the meeting room are not given and, in fact, they are forbidden to use the free toilet. According to Tashmukhamedova, “the administration revels in its power and impunity. The prisoners are in the position of slaves without rights.”
According to Tatyana Dovlatova, on the day the application was received, there were seven incidents in penitentiary institutions of Uzbekistan. Today, the head of the colony, Sh. Usmanov, refused to show the son to his parents, but was ready to show photographs of parts of Madier’s body.
