Prisoners’ relatives say about beatings in Khujand penal colony

Relatives of some prisoners who have been transferred from penal colonies in Dushanbe and Vahdat to a penal colony in Khujand, the capital of the northern Sughd province say about severe beatings in the Khujand penal colony.

On November 7, they lodged an appropriate complaint to the Prosecutor-General’s Office and came to the Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law (BHR) in Dushanbe.

They reportedly told members of the Coalition of NGOs against Torture that 50 inmates of penal colonies in Dushanbe and Vahdat had been transferred to penal colony # 23 in Khujand.

According to them, among those transferred to the Khujand penal colony there are four inmates, who were witnesses in the death of Hamza Ikromzoda.

Mahmoud Rizoyev says that his son, Sunatullo Rizoyev, underwent under pressure from wardens in Dushanbe’s penal colony # 1 and then was brutally beaten in Khujand’s penal colony # 23.

“When investigators came to the penal colony, my son told them that Hamza Ikromzoda was beaten to death and he saw that.  And he was not going to change testimonies,” Mahmoud Rizoyev said, noting that his son is now in a serious health condition.

Mahmoud Rizoyev believes that penitentiary authorities have organized that transfer of prisoners just because of two witnesses in order to “deal shortly with them far from the capital city, in the Khujand penal colony that is reputed as “Guantanamo” because of use torture and ill-treatment.”

According to some data, Ilhom Rustamov, Sunatullo Rizoyev, Tojiddin Rizoyev, Umed Kholmurodov, Qais Sharipov, Zohir Rahmatov, Sadriddin Mahmadov, Sadriddin Toshev and some other prisoners have been transferred to the Khujand penal colony.

Meanwhile, Ilhom Mahmoudov, the deputy head of the Penitentiary System at the Ministry of Justice, says the transfer of prisoners was a planned event.  “Inmates from penal colonies ## 1, 2 and 4 have been transferred to the Khujand penal colony and their relatives have been informed of that,” Mahmoudov noted.  He has denied information that they have transferred some inmates to a penal colony in Khujand in order to conceal the details of the death of Hamza Ikromzoda as baseless.

We will recall that Hamza Ikromzoda, 27, died in Dushanbe’s penal colony # 1 on September 20.  Hamza’s 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.

Inmates of Dushanbe’s penal colony # 1 have complained about restriction of their rights and toughening of prison regime after the death of Hamza Ikromzoda.

Ikromzoda's former cellmate Saidali Qazaqov told a press conference in Dushanbe last month 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.  Qazaqov 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.