Watchdog

The health of imprisoned Kazakh dissident poet Aron Atabek has reportedly deteriorated since prison authorities placed him in solitary confinement almost one month ago.

Atabek details his condition in a letter smuggled out of his penitentiary in the northern Pavlodar region this week.

Atabek told friends and relatives that one of legs, which was broken some time ago by prison guards, is now swollen and painful.

Atabek's wife, Zhaina Aidarkhan, told RFE/RL on June 20 that her husband was transferred to solitary confinement on May 21 for unknown reasons.

Prison officials refused to comment.

Atabek, 60, was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2007 for his role in organizing mass protests that resulted in the death of a police officer.

Atabek has maintained his innocence. He rejected a government pardon in 2012 if he would admit his guilt.

Kyrgyzstan's Kylym Shamy (Torch of the Century) human rights center has urged law-enforcement authorities to pay attention to the recurring issue of attacks against lawyers in the country's courtrooms.

The Bishkek-based nongovernmental organization expressed its concerns in a statement issued on June 18, saying violent attacks against lawyers during trials have occurred many times in the past but the perpetrators are never held responsible.

The statement came the same day as reports that lawyer Kumushbek Ybykeev had been severely beaten by relatives and supporters of the victims of a deadly traffic accident during hearings into the case at the Osh Regional Court in the country's south.

Ybykeev, who was representing a defendant in the case, was hospitalized.

According to Kyrgyz media reports, Ybykeev was threatened by several people who visited him later in the hospital.