Natives of Chechnya complain about custody conditions in Dimitrovgrad prison

Mansur Soltaev, the Chechen Ombudsperson, has visited the prison located in Dimitrovgrad, a city on the Ulyanovask Region of Russia, where prisoners were on a hunger strike. According to his story, the Chechens serving their prison terms there did not complain about religious discrimination, but voiced complaints about strict rules, poor medical care and restrictions on relatives' visits.

On April 13, the fasting prisoners, mostly from Chechnya and Ingushetia, were beaten up in the Dimitrovgrad prison, the human rights project "Gulagu.net" has reported. More than a hundred inmates went on a hunger strike. On May 3, their relatives reported that the inmates had stopped their protest action in despair of achieving results.

Mansur Soltaev has confirmed that there was a conflict in the prison, but "there is no reason to talk about any interethnic and interfaith conflict."

The hunger-strikers and those inmates who had self-injured in protest complained "about strict prison rules, poor medical care, violations of parcel delivery process and restrictions on relatives' visits."

The Ombudsperson has asked the natives of Chechnya to "strictly adhere the prison behaviour rules" and concluded that inmates "had been used by provocateurs to create a public outcry," the website of the "Grozny" TV Company asserts.

The report adds that "an agreement was reached with the prison bosses about constant monitoring of inmates' safety."