Almost seven thousand prisoners in Kyrgyzstan upped the ante in their hunger strike against prison authorities in the Central Asian republic. To protest what they consider excessive force used by prison guards to put down a riot at a prison facility, 1,319 of the 6,680 prisoners involved in the hunger strike have sewn their mouth shut. According to spokesperson Eleonora Sabatarova of the prison system, 600 prisoners have been transferred to medical facilities within the prison system as a result of malnutrition. Prisoners have sewn their mouths shut in order to prevent forced nutrition.
The hunger strike began on January 17, a day after Kyrgyz security forces shut down rioting at a prison in Bishkek. One prisoner died as a result, while hundreds were injured. Public Defender Tursunbek Akun said on January 24 in a press conference that prisoners have issued a series of demands that must be met so that they will remove the stitches from their mouths and return to eating. Said Akun, “The are complaining about the aggression and the loss of their rights.” Akun added “Prison authorities claim that the convicts threw boiling water on them on January 16 during an inspection, and the prisoners say the riot police beat them for no reason” according to a local news source.
Family members of the prisoners told the media that among the demands are that prison authorities should put an end to beatings and torture at Prison Number One in Bishkek and at other prisons. Prisoners are also demanding legal counsel for themselves, and improved living conditions.
The protesting prisoners are demanding that members of the government’s prison system, and authorities at Prison Number One, should be put on trial for injuries suffered by prisoners. They also want to put on trial the coroner who examined the body of Nurbek Alymbayev – the prisoner who died at Prison Number One – for having made a “false” autopsy report.
Public Defender Akun said after visiting Prison Number One, “Many of the people who are on the hunger strike are in very bad shape. Two of them have los consciousness.” According to the prisoners, said Akun, the State Penitential Service gave “false information” when it claimed that prisoners had been receiving food from family members. The prisoners, said Akun, have sewn their mouth shut to give the lie to the authorities.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in a statement, demanded that Kyrgyzstan should respect human rights and also improve living conditions in its prisons. Matteo Mecacci, who leads the Human Rights Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, said that “Human rights don’t cease upon entry to prison.”
RSS