Tajikistan’s penitentiary system head comments on demand by prisoners’ parents for his resignation

Tajikistan’s penitentiary system head, Izatullo Sharipov, has commented on demand by prisoners’ parents for his resignation.

According him, the president has appointed him to this position and only the president has the right to relieve him of his position.

“Those who are guilty must be punished.  We do not rule out that there are shortcomings in our system, but we are seeking to remove them,” Sharipov told Asia-Plus in an interview.

We will recall that in early March this year, more than 300 parents of people, who are serving their terms or died in Tajik jails, signed the letter demanding resignation of Izatullo Sharipov, head of Tajikistan’ penitentiary system.

The letter was reportedly sent to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and copies of the letter were sent to the British Ambassador to Tajikistan Robin Jeremy Ord-Smith and the U.S Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake.

The inmates’ relatives say the letter contains materials about cases of torture and beating in Tajik prisons and audio track to support their allegations is attached.

The inmates’ relatives also demand resignation of Tolib Azimov, prosecutor in charge with overseeing observance of law by penitentiary institutions of Dushanbe and districts subordinate to the center and Nusratullo Abdulloyev, head of the Supreme Court of Tajikistan.

According to them, they have complained to them and sent dozens of letters to them but their complaints have reportedly been ignored.

Tajikistan's nongovernmental organization, Coalition Against Torture, issued a statement in November 2012 demanding investigations into the alleged mass beatings of prison inmates.  According to the rights group, prison guards brutally beat at least 50 inmates after their transfer from a Dushanbe jail to a prison labor camp in Khujand, the capital of the northern province of Sughd.

The activists said that at least four of the beaten prisoners were witnesses in the September death of an inmate that had received heavy media coverage.  The statement listed six other suspicious deaths in custody.

Meanwhile, Tajik penitentiary authorities played down the allegations of prison abuse.  According to them, all the allegations about torture are a complete lie and have no basis whatsoever.