Timur Tumgoev, native of North Ossetia, complains about pressure on witnesses in colony hunger strike case

Timur Tumgoev, a native of North Ossetia, who is in colony in the Saratov Region, told his sister that they stopped persecuting him for his refusal to shave his beard. He complained that pressure was being exerted on witnesses in the new case on charges of disrupting the colony.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Timur Tumgoev took part in the hunger strike announced by colony inmates and cut himself up in protest against custody conditions. He faces a new prison term. On June 2, Tumgoev's advocate stated that he faced provocations because of his religion and wearing a beard.

According to Marina Tumgoeva, her brother told her that witnesses who can testify in his favour are pressed to change their testimonies.

Earlier, Akhmed Haji Makhmetov, a Deputy Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of the Saratov Region, noted that Muslims' wearing a beard is strictly regulated and associated with the image of the Prophet Muhammad, but the rules of the Russian FSIN (Federal Penitentiary Service) are quite strict. According to the clergyman, a SAM's is a member of the Public Oversight Commission (POC), which decides on this issue.

Pyatimat Yusupova, a human rights defender, treats the demand to Muslims to shave beards at penitentiary establishment as "a human rights violation."