Prisoners of the prison in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region, said that guards forcibly shave Muslims, humiliate and beat them, and doctors refuse to record the beatings. The Civic Assistance Committee writes about this.
Thus, three prisoners told human rights activists that in early July, Muslims in prison were forced to shave by force. Previously, they cut their beards and hair with clippers with special attachments, which the correctional officers deliberately broke. As a result, the prisoners were forced to shave «under zero», and those who did not agree were beaten.
“Convicted Muslims were taken to a bathhouse where beard clippers and attachments are kept. We cut our beards to a maximum length of 9mm and the hair on the head to a maximum of 20mm. [Prison staff] broke clipper attachments so we couldn't trim our beards according to the rules. They demanded that we cut our hair and beards to zero. machines without attachments. I refused to do so as it violates my rights. To which the prison officer replied that “he is the law here,” Civic Assistance quotes the words of one of the prisoners.
The man was later allegedly beaten with a shaving machine, forcing him to shave himself to end the torture. A few hours later, he stuck a sharpened wire between his ribs to a depth of about seven centimeters in order to «draw the attention of the public and the competent authorities to gross violations of their rights by the employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service,» Civic Assistance reports. He was taken to the hospital, and later transferred to another correctional facility.
According to two more prisoners, some Muslims are forcibly shaved by the colony employees themselves — their hair and beard eventually remain “stripes”. Some prisoners later shave their heads so as not to look ugly.
In addition, according to Civic Assistance, prison officials deliberately prevent Muslims from praying: they turn on loud music or the radio, take away prayer mats, and conduct searches during prayer hours. One of the prisoners also said that the guards call Muslims “terrorists”, “extremists” and “murderers”, insult and humiliate Muslims on religious and national grounds, and sometimes add pork to their food, forcing them to refuse food.
< p> Prisoners complain that they are sent to the ShIZO and beaten for far-fetched reasons — for example, because during the inspection «not good enough» their legs were apart. Doctors refuse to record the beatings and injuries inflicted by the prison staff. In addition, the prisoners reported generally poor conditions in the correctional facility — the sewerage does not work normally, there is mold and unsanitary conditions in the cells, cockroaches, spiders, centipedes and other insects.
Civil Assistance has already talked about torture and discrimination in a prison in Dimitrovgrad. In April 2022, the prisoners went on a hunger strike and slashed their wrists to protest the harassment by the guards.