Tuesday, 9 October 2012
by Hairullo Mirsaidov
Yet another scandal linked to the death of a man following torture has hit Tajikistan. A resident of Gissar District Hamza Ikromzoda died in investigative detention facility (IDF) No 1 in Dushanbe. Having received the body of the deceased, his family reported finding many signs of beatings and strong burns in the shape of an iron. His brother said that this was preceded a conflict between prisoners and the police, which arose from the latter’s refusal to share money with the former.
The Deputy Head of the Department of Penal Labour of the Ministry of Justice (DPL) Bahrom Abdulhakov refuted the family’s allegations and said that Mr Ikromzoda committed suicide in the punitive consignment. “When he was taken out of the noose, he still had a pulse, and there were attempts to save him.”
He said that when Mr Ikromzoda’s temperature fell sharply, flasks with hot water were put on his body and doctors tried to revive him with electricity, which is the reason Mr Abdulhakov gave for the burns on Mr Ikromzoda’s body.
The dead man’s relatives addressed their complaints to various authorities, including the country’s president. Several days ago, a group of women demanded to be let into the DPL. After a long conversation, the head of the division promised them that the head of IDF No1 will be fired. The prosecutors are now looking into Mr Ikromzoda’s death.
On the same day that Mr Ikromzoda died, another man was said to have thrown himself out of the window of the Drug Control Agency in Dushanbe (DCA). He was taken there on suspicion of storing drugs and is said to have jumped out of the tactical-mobile division of the DCA on the sixth floor. The prosecutor has launched a criminal case, but no details have been announced.
This is already the third case in the last year when those accused of crimes die during the preliminary investigation by jumping out of the windows. In October last year, 28 year old Bahromiddin Shodiev died in hospital. The police said he tried to escape and jumped out of the second floor window. His relatives insisted that he was violently tortured during the investigation, and said that he told them this before his death.
According to the Tajikistan police internal investigation, three people employed by the department where the incident took place were dismissed. The Minister of the Interior ordered a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr Shodiev’s death and, if it involves police employees, has ordered for criminal cases to be launched against them. Then it all came to a standstill.
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via Tajikistan: Dubious Efforts against Torture , 9 October 2012 Tuesday 10:26.