Torture In Uzbek Prisons
This letter was secretly passed from strict penal colony No. 64/33 (near the city of Karshi in the Kashkadarya region) in July or August 2009 and received by the group Human Rights in Central Asia in December 2009:
From Colony No. 64/33 we write, those who were imprisoned on false charges and sentenced according to Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
There are 121 prisoners here imprisoned according to Article 159. We all ended up here in different years. We are all different people. Our characters are also different, but our destiny is the same. Our destiny has been pleased to see what man could never have imagined.
Looking at these masters and jailers it is hard to believe that they were born to women. Born a human being should remain a human being. And they are wild creatures and inhuman monsters. The pain they caused us is impossible to describe. They rape us with a club (stick), enema syringe with a red pepper; and beat on the heels till they bleed.
These are the methods of violence they like. This all seems not enough to them, and they come up with various new methods of torture. They rape with sticks those who suffer from AIDS, and use those same sticks to rape other prisoners. They laugh and say with a jeer: "You all pray, call each other 'brothers,' and aren't you ashamed to infect each other with AIDS?"
In the medical unit for healthy people, they use syringes that were previously used for patients with AIDS. A prisoner called Holmirza, who expressed indignation, was forcibly given the blood of a prisoner with AIDS. Then Holmirza was transported to another colony, and it's still not known to which one.
Dear friends! Mothers! Fathers!
Our torments are increasing, not diminishing. The torturers threw aside all restraints and became violent. They know that they will not answer for this under the law, but do not know that they will have to give an answer before God and his judgment. For certain reasons known to you, we do not write our names. Consider that the letter was signed by 121 prisoners.
From Colony No. 64/33 we write, those who were imprisoned on false charges and sentenced according to Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
There are 121 prisoners here imprisoned according to Article 159. We all ended up here in different years. We are all different people. Our characters are also different, but our destiny is the same. Our destiny has been pleased to see what man could never have imagined.
Looking at these masters and jailers it is hard to believe that they were born to women. Born a human being should remain a human being. And they are wild creatures and inhuman monsters. The pain they caused us is impossible to describe. They rape us with a club (stick), enema syringe with a red pepper; and beat on the heels till they bleed.
These are the methods of violence they like. This all seems not enough to them, and they come up with various new methods of torture. They rape with sticks those who suffer from AIDS, and use those same sticks to rape other prisoners. They laugh and say with a jeer: "You all pray, call each other 'brothers,' and aren't you ashamed to infect each other with AIDS?"
In the medical unit for healthy people, they use syringes that were previously used for patients with AIDS. A prisoner called Holmirza, who expressed indignation, was forcibly given the blood of a prisoner with AIDS. Then Holmirza was transported to another colony, and it's still not known to which one.
Dear friends! Mothers! Fathers!
Our torments are increasing, not diminishing. The torturers threw aside all restraints and became violent. They know that they will not answer for this under the law, but do not know that they will have to give an answer before God and his judgment. For certain reasons known to you, we do not write our names. Consider that the letter was signed by 121 prisoners.