Jailed Tajik opposition veteran Hikmatullo Saifullozoda has reportedly been moved to a prison hospital after the 70-year-old is said to have shown signs of heart trouble, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, said on April 1.
Saifullozoda's wife, Faroghat Sanginova, told RFE/RL on April 1 that she visited the prison after her husband missed his regular weekly call to her.
"The prison administration told me that he was placed in the penitentiary's hospital. They said they will treat his heart first and prepare him for surgery," Sanginova said.
Sanginova previously said a chronic medical condition had worsened after her husband survived COVID-19 while in custody.
But the Tajik prison administration rejected her statements, saying that Saifullozoda's life was not in danger.
Saifullozoda is a onetime member of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan Party (IRPT), which was labeled as extremist and banned in 2015.
Dozens of IRPT officials and supporters have been prosecuted and many imprisoned in recent years
Saifullozoda was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 16 years in prison after a court found him guilty of involvement in a purported insurrection against the government led by Major-General Abduhalim Nazarzoda.
The IRPT has denied any links to the deadly events and called the imprisonment of its members and leaders politically motivated.
