Natives of Caucasus stop their hunger strike after concessions from colony administration

Ten prisoners, including three residents of Dagestan and a native of Azerbaijan, stopped their protest in one of the penal colonies of the Smolensk Region. Some of the prisoners’ demands have already been met, their relatives say today.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in a penal colony in the Smolensk Region, ten prisoners sewed their mouths up in protest against their regular harassment. According to relatives of the prisoners, they complain of beatings, humiliation, discrimination on religious grounds, and unreasonable punishments.

Today, a father of prisoner Shamil Nurmagomedov has told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that all ten prisoners have stopped their hunger strike after a meeting with the deputy chief of the FSIN (Federal Penitentiary Service) Department for the Smolensk Region. “TV and radio sets and a microwave oven were returned to their cell. There have been yet no reactions from the Public Oversight Committee (POC) for the Smolensk Region and the Ombudsman,” said Kazim Nurmagomedov.

The deputy chief of the FSIN Department for the Smolensk Region met the prisoners on April 27, and they stopped their hunger strike on the same day, says a mother of prisoner Sergey Gavrilov. The woman managed to get a short meeting with her son.

“I wanted to see him in person. We were given the opportunity to communicate through a plexiglass barrier using a phone. He has got wounds from stitches: they actually sewed up their mouths,” said the mother of Sergey Gavrilov.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 28, 2021 at 04:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.