DUSHANBE, October 18, 2012, Asia-Plus – Inmates of Dushanbe’s penal colony # 1 complain about restriction of their rights and toughening of prison regime after the death of Hamza Ikromzoda.
One of inmates, who called himself Alisher, told Asia-Plus by phone that he and several other inmates have been denied permission to meet their relatives in recent several days.
“My relatives collected money to come from district to see me, bought products but they were not allowed access to me,” the inmate said, noting that prison guards do not observe laws and do not respect inmates’ rights.
“Those who killed Hamza Ikromzoda are continuing to work here. Where is the justice?”
According to him, prison conditions are far from being normal; meals are very poor.
Alisher also noted that managers of the penitentiary system are arranging show visits from time to time for journalists and representatives of civil society. “They make preparations for their visit in advance in order to portray things in the most favorable light,” Alisher said.
Representatives of the penitentiary system, however, claim that such statements are absolutely baseless. “If inmate is denied permission to meet his relatives it means that there is any reason for this,” they noted.
Meanwhile, an article “Tajik Torture Claims Put Prisons Under Scrutiny,” posted on Radio Liberty’s website on October 16, notes that the head of Tajikistan”s penitentiary system has been forced on the defensive following some incendiary allegations concerning the use of torture in the country”s prisons.
“Just days after his department had to launch an investigation into the suspicious death of Hamza Ikromzoda in a detention center in mid-September, Izzatullo Sharifov found himself having to promise another probe amid claims of systematic torture in Tajik jails.
“Upon being released from a Dushanbe penitentiary on October 8, Ikromzoda”s former cellmate Saidali Kazakov told a press conference that abuse by prison authorities was a widespread practice. He said that the only way inmates could avoid mistreatment was to get their relatives to pay bribes of $200- $500 to prison officials.
“Kazakov also showed reporters bruises on his body, which he said he received as a result of torture.
“He also intimated that those who abused prisoners to extort money felt they could do so with impunity because they were related to people in high places.
“Kazakov said that some of those doling out punishment in prisons had claimed to be relatives of President Emomali Rahmon and some even told him that they were actually Sharifov”s nephews.”
We will recall that Hamza Ikromzoda, 27, died in Dushanbe’s penal colony # 1 on September 20.
His relatives claim that he was tortured. They say his body carried traces of torture, including burns caused by a heated iron.
Tajik authorities deny these allegations. They maintain that Ikromzoda committed suicide by hanging and that the marks on his body were caused by desperate attempts to revive him after he had been found.
