According to relatives of prisoner Umed Teshev, who stabbed the prison head with scissors in the city prison of Kulob, the southern part of Tajikistan, he was tortured by jailers and now his life is in danger.

The Public Committee against Torture located in Dushanbe reported that the relatives of Umed Teshev appealed to the Committee asking for help hire a lawyer.

“We spoke with Umed Teshev’s relatives. They do not have information whether Umed is alive or not. According to them, Umed Teshev’s former attorney visited him in the prison. The lawyer told his relatives that Umed’s hands were swollen, he could not move his fingers, and his left ear was cut off,” representatives of the Public Committee against Torture told local reporters.

Also, according to them, it appeared that after that visit to the prison, Umed Teshev’s lawyer stopped communicating with Umed Teshev, and stopped answering telephone calls of Umed Teshev’s family members.

On 16 February, 2014, the head of the prison in the city of Kulob, 66-year-old Umar Kayumov asked prisoner Umed Teshev to cut his hair. Previously Umed Teshev, who had worked as a barber, was sentenced to 17.5 years for imprisonment for a murder according to the Criminal Code of Tajikistan. First Teshev stabbed Umar Kayumov’s head with scissors and after that he stabbed Kayumov body with the scissors 16 times. Umar Kayumov died on the way to the hospital.

Later, Gulomov, the new head of the prison in Kulob, told Umed Teshev’s relatives that he cannot provide them with any information that Teshev was tortured. He advised them to appeal to Izatullo Sharipov, the chief of Tajikistan GUIN (GUIN is the Main Administration for Execution of Punishments).

Umed Teshev, a 30-year-old prisoner, is a father of three young children.

“He is not the first prisoner tortured in prisons of Tajikistan, whose health was seriously affected,” said Tajik human rights activists.

Over the past three years, human rights organizations registered many cases, when tens of detainees died during interrogations in detention centers and prisons, who had been detained as suspects of various crimes, as well as inmates.

UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez visited Tajikistan in mid-February 2014.

During the meeting with Sirojiddin Aslov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan, Juan Mendez discussed the matter of Tajikistan’s accession to the international convention for the eradication of torture and inhuman treatment.

What has changed after the UN Special Rapporteur left?

That was the question Jarayon asked well-known Tajik human rights activist Faiziniso Vokhidova.

“Nothing will change as that was not the first visit made by Juan Mendez to Tajikistan. He had previously visited us, and met with one or two officials. Personally, I have not noticed any changes after his visits to Tajikistan. On the other hand, I believe that the Tajik government is playing with fire. If the Tajik authorities do not fulfill the requirements of the United Nations to eradicate torture, in the near future they will be financially punished,” said Faiziniso Vokhidova.

Saimuddin Dustov, an independent Tajik analyst and the chief editor of ‘Nigokh’ newspaper, believes that UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez was insufficiently informed about the torture situation in the country.

“Mr. Mendez was told about the torture situation in Tajikistan from only a few individuals and organizations existing due to grants. In fact, he does not have any serious program. I even heard that during his recent visit to Dushanbe, government bodies received Juan Mendez as a weak-willed person. In my opinion, while the prisons in the country are controlled by Izatullo Sharipov, the matter of secret deaths and tortures of prisoners will remain a painful problem for our society,” said Dustov.

In recent years, human rights organizations of Tajikistan continue demanding that the current government should thoroughly examine and investigate cases related to secret deaths.

“But, unfortunately, the government pays no attention to such appeals,” – said human rights activist Nargiz Zokirova.

At the press conference delivered prior to the arrival of UN representative Juan Mendez in Dushanbe, Tajikistan Attorney General Sherkhon Salimzoda told reporters that during 2013 his office received 16 complaints related to tortures, but only 4 cases were confirmed during the examinations. According to the Attorney General, 9 cases of tortures and violence were registered in 2012, and the suspects were prosecuted.

First time Juan Mendez visited Tajikistan in May 2012. During that trip, he visited several prisons in the country, and having studied the situation in prisons, delivered some recommendations to the authorities of the country. One of these recommendations was introduction of a special article against torture in the Criminal Code of the country.

The authorities considered the advice of the UN Special Rapporteur, but did not take any actions to prevent the use of torture except introducing article 143 (Torture) in the Criminal Code of the country.

Juan Mendez, who arrived in Tajikistan in February 2014 to see if the authorities executed his torture prevention recommendations made ​​two years ago, said that torture in this country is still widely used against detainees and prisoners. According to Mendez, attempts to quickly complete investigations and impunity of police officers or investigators hinder full prevention of torture in the country.

Prior to the arrival of UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez in Tajikistan, 34-year-old Umidzhon Tozhiev was tortured to death in a temporary detention facility in the city of Khuzhand in the northern part of the country. In his suicide note, he wrote that he could not endure tortures executed by police officers of the city of Isfara, who tortured him with electric shocks, and he was forced to jump out from the second floor of the building. After Tozhiev’s death, his suicide note was published in the local press.

According to the Public Committee against Torture, tens of suspects die after tortures applied by law enforcers of the Interior of Tajikistan during investigations.

“As example, the names of tens of such prisoners as Safarali Sangov, Bahromiddin Shodiev, Dilshodbek Murodov, Ismail Bachazhonov, Ismonboi Bobo, Khurshed Bobokalonov, Khamzaali Ikromzoda could be mentioned,” said the 2013 committee report.

According to official data, currently there are 11,000 inmates in the prisons of Tajikistan. Annually, about 5,000 people are sentenced by the court to different years of imprisonment.

There have been only a few cases, when the Tajik courts brought in acquittals. In 2013, there were only four cases, when the defendants were released by Tajik judges in the courtroom.

Gulnora RAVSHAN