7.4.10

Prisoners’ mental diseases resulting from torture

Djamoliddin Karimov, born in 1977, was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment under article 159 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. He has been serving his sentence since October 25, 2001. He was in colony (prison) 64/29 in Navoi, then he was transferred to colony 64/71 in the settlement of Jaslyk in Karakalpakistan where he stayed until August, 2004. There he was sentenced under article 221 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan, his term of imprisonment increased to three years. Then he was sent to the Andijan prison camp. Until May 2007 he was in colony 64/36 in Navoi. Since May 2008 he has been serving a sentence in colony 64/71 in the settlement of Jaslyk in Karakalpakistan.

In 2003, when Djamoliddin Karimov served time in colony №64/71 he was beaten by officers in the colony. They battered him all over his body, including his heels. As a result he received fractures to both arms. To treat the fractures they installed a metal pin in Karimov’s shoulder joint. It needed to be removed after six months. They did not remove the metal pin in time. Nearly a year after being put in it caused inflammation, then suppuration, and part of the metal pin came out. Doctors performed an operation to remove the metal pin, but without anesthesia.

Djamoliddin Karimov lost his sanity because of the pain. His two sisters visited him recently. Karimov did not recognize them. He neither slept nor ate during the visit. According to the sisters of Djamoliddin Karimov he wore the same clothes that had been put on him a few months ago during their previous visit. They said that Karimov had become aggressive and totally insane. When he has an attack of raving madness, neither the guard nor doctor approached him. His cellmates stop his attacks by kicking him because he does not let them sleep; the prison guards also beat him. The best that can happen is for the doctor to give him two tablets for tuberculosis- instead of a sedative drug.

We know that Ulugbek Sirodazimov, born in 1971, is serving a sentence in colony 64/36. As a result of torture he suffers from a mental disorder. Sirodazimov was convicted under article 159 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan.

Several prisoners in colony 64/71 in the settlement of Jaslyk have mental disorders, but we can not yet establish their names because such information is being blocked in every possible way. One of the most terrible kinds of torture there is infecting prisoners with HIV by raping them with an infected stick.