Convict from Dagestan reports Muslims' hunger strike in colony

Inmates in the colony located in the Kurgan Region have gone on a hunger strike in protest against insults to believers' feelings and the seizure of their personal belongings, Omar Murtazaliev, a convict from Dagestan, has stated in a video appeal.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in October 2020, the court found seven residents of Dagestan, including Omar Murtazaliev, guilty of preparing attacks on law enforcers and organizing an armed grouping, and sentenced them to long prison terms. In February 2018, detainees' parents stated that their sons gave confessions under torture and that the case was fabricated.

In penal colony No. 2, Muslims, including convicts from Northern Caucasus, have gone on a hunger strike after searches and seizure of their religious literature.

"Omar said that employees of the FSIN (Russian Federal Penitentiary Service) insulted believers' feelings, threw the Koran down on the floor during a search and provoked prisoners to protest," says the YouTube channel of the human rights project "Gulagu.net".

About 20 Muslims were subjected to violence in the colony, Vladimir Osechkin*, a human rights defender, has reported. According to his story, the hotline received more than 20 messages from relatives of convicts from Dagestan, outraged by the actions of the colony staff, the "Kavkaz.Realii"* project has added.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.