Native of Dagestan complains about torture at Mordovian colony

Ramazan Gadjiev, a resident of Dagestan, has complained that employees of the colony in Mordovia, where he is serving his sentence, are poisoning him with bleach, dousing him with liquid from a fire extinguisher and spraying him with pepper spray. Aza Alieva, his advocate, has noted that she had sent appeals to a number of bodies, including the prosecutor's office, but there was no response yet.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that prisoners from the republics of Northern Caucasus have repeatedly complained about the violation of their rights in colonies located in other Russian regions. Thus, on August 10, natives of Dagestan and Chechnya complained about torture in the colony located in the Ulyanovsk Region: they were forced to shave off their beards; they were tortured, and their personal belongings were taken away.

In his letters to relatives, Ramazan Gadjiev, a native of Dagestan, complained about torture and said that he had tried to commit suicide because of the bad attitude of the colony staff. He stated that he was being poisoned with bleach, doused with liquid from a fire extinguisher, sprayed with pepper spray in the cell, and not allowed to eat, drink, sleep and go to the toilet.

He has complained that the colony staff had twice driven him to commit suicide. Both attempts were prevented by the colony staff.

Aza Alieva, an advocate, claims that not only Gadjiev is being tortured at the above colony. "When studying his letters, I come to the conclusion that torture and torments had been used against Gadjiev and about 20 other inmates for more than eight days," she said.

One of the members of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) for Mordovia has stated that the POC members received no Gadjiev's complaints about torture.