On January 31, prominent Kazakh dissident, author, and poet Aron Atabek will turn 60. Atabek will mark the milestone alone, in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison in the city of Arkalyk, where he has just been transferred for the next two years.
http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-aron-atabek-dissident-poet/24887000.html
Summary: "His supporters believe the case against him was politically motivated. He was sentenced to 18 years in a labor camp. Atabek has always maintained his innocence and even rejected a government pardon if he would admit his guilt. --- "The conditions are very harsh: 24-hour video surveillance and, when you're taken out for exercise, it's in handcuffs and a mask, so you can't see anyone. The whole system was formed under [Soviet dictator Josef] Stalin, and now it's even worse," he says. --- there are no laws, no order. They lead people out to the grounds to conduct a search, then steal the prisoners' property -- different things, like radios. They wear black masks. We call it the 'mask show.' They come to the camp and turn everything upside down."
He says he knows of at least three people who have died in prison as a result of torture.
--- While treated harshly, he says he has not been beaten in prison, although he said he is aware of prisoners being severely beaten and raped with truncheons. --- Atabek's family says his health is deteriorating, and that they fear for his life after the publication of his latest book. --- Atabek says he is very grateful for the international attention his case has received, including a prize in 2010 from Freedom to Create, an NGO dedicated to supporting projects that unleash people's creativity. "That was a huge help. They would have killed me a long time ago in this prison if people didn't know who I was and didn't defend me," (read the whole article in the link above)
Campaign Kazakhstan:
http://campaignkazakhstan.org/index.php/2013/01/29/aron-atabek-still-wrongly-imprisoned-at-60/
Foto: familjen Lindén
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar