Rights defenders report murder of native of Chechnya in Chelyabinsk colony

Inmates of the Chelyabinsk penal colony went on a hunger strike after Sultan Israilov, a native of Chechnya, had died there. The colony personnel assert that he committed suicide, but rights defenders assert that he was killed.

The prisoner Sultan Israilov died in High Security Colony No. 2 of Chelyabinsk on December 21, Said-Magomed Akhmatgiriev, the representative of the head of Chechnya in the Chelyabinsk Region, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, adding that the brother of the deceased was issued a certificate in the colony, reading that "the prisoner Sultan Israilov died of asphyxiation."

"On the eve of his death, Sultan telephoned to his brother to Goy-Chu, telling that in all likelihood, he would be soon released on conditional early relief (CER). He made plans on what to do, when he returns home. However, on the following day, relatives were told that he hanged himself. Nobody believes it," Mr Akhmatgiriev has stressed.

In the opinion of Valery Prikhodkin, a member of the Public Oversight Commission over Prisons of the Chelyabinsk Region, the version of Israilov's suicide is implausible.

"Sultan Israilov was beaten to death. It's just enough to look at the traces of beatings on his body, to understand that it's not a suicide – it's a murder. The person, who had just received from the colony's commission a recommendation for the CER, would unlikely commit suicide," Valery Prikhodkin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On December 25, an anonymous message was sent to the "hotline" Gulagu.net, stating that prisoners of Colony No. 2 had announced a mass hunger strike aiming to draw attention to the attempt to present Israilov's murder as a suicide.

In total, 520 prisoners are on hunger strike; today, they refused to eat breakfast and lunch, a law enforcement source has confirmed.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.