Electronic version of Shattered Lives book

Dear friends, colleagues and partners,

We would like to bring to your attention an electronic version of Shattered Lives book, which reveals the real stories of survivors of torture and abusive treatment in Tajikistan. The book is dedicated to the memories of relatives about their sons and husbands who were subjected to violence and arbitrary actions by dishonorable officers of law enforcement and security agencies of the country, their fortitude and perseverance.

The initial idea for writing the book belongs to the “Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law” Public Organization. By releasing our first book in 2013, we hoped that it would contribute to the prevention of the torture malpractice, cruel and inhuman treatment of people. It is very unfortunate that annually the Coalition against Torture registers more and more stories of survivors of torture and abusive treatment, inclusive of young people who died as a result of hazing and bullying in the military.

This book contains an updated information on the stories that were included in the first edition, six new stories that took place between 2014 and 2015; and in 2021, 10 new stories on which the Coalition against Torture in Tajikistan worked between 2015 and 2020 were added to the book. These stories are about pain, fear and impunity. In some cases, lawyers managed to suspend the case and literally pull out an innocent person from custody, in other cases, they were able to bring to justice those guilty law enforcement officers for the use of torture, and in some cases, survivors of torture, their relatives and lawyers have been struggling for years to ensure that an effective investigation is carried out and that the perpetrators are brought to justice…