Report of the Ombudsman on the Penitentiary System of Tajikistan for 2024

The office of the Ombudsman of Tajikistan, which is constantly criticized for its lack of response to human rights violations in the country, has revealed some issues in the penitentiary system of Tajikistan. In its new report (2024), this institution criticized at least three prisons under the Ministry of Justice for exceeding the standards for the accommodation of prisoners in cells. “Such a situation leads to violations of the legal requirements that establish a sanitary area norm of at least four square meters per convicted person,” the report from the Ombudsman for Human Rights in Tajikistan states.

An inspection by the Ombudsman’s office in 2023 of the correctional facility YA 3/4 showed that this prison is overcrowded by 300 people. “The correctional facility YA 3/7 holds 162 more inmates than the norm, while the correctional facility YA 3/3 has 136 more convicted individuals than the norm,” the report states.

In April of this year, the U.S. State Department called “the overcrowding of Tajik prisons” a serious problem. Earlier, journalist Abdusat tor Pirmukhammadzoda, sentenced to 7 years in prison, complained to his relatives that he is held in a cell with 60 other people and they do not have sufficient access to water. However, Tajik authorities repeatedly state at international conferences and round tables that new prisons have been built in the country and that the conditions for holding prisoners are close to international standards. The Ombudsman’s report also mentions improvements in the conditions of detention in some prisons. For example, the report states that for life-sentenced prisoners “six additional cells have been allocated… conditions have been created for washing and bathing with hot water.”

According to official data, as of January 1, 2024, more than 13,500 convicted individuals were held in Tajik prisons, and another 1,300 people were in pre-trial detention centers and temporary detention facilities. Of these, more than 14,000 are men, about 500 are women, 134 are minors, and 244 are foreign citizens. While the authorities claim that the guilt of all convicted individuals has been proven in court, Western countries and organizations believe that some sentences, including those against journalists, bloggers, lawyers, civil society activists, and members of political parties and movements, have been issued unjustly, and they demand their annulment and the immediate release of such individuals from detention.

According to the Ombudsman’s data presented in his annual report for last year, which he described as “difficult” for Tajik prisons, 350 prisoners are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and more than 100 convicted individuals are suffering from tuberculosis. “Another problem is the cases of prisoner deaths, the number of which continues to raise concerns. In 2023, 53 prisoners died in places of detention,” the report from the Ombudsman for Human Rights states. In 2022, 61 prisoners died in Tajik prisons.

Authorities cite the main causes of prisoner deaths as “cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and oncological diseases.” However, a statement from four opposition parties based abroad, published in August 2023, claims that the death of former member of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan Jaloliddin Mahmudov in prison is a result of the mistreatment of political prisoners: “The authorities deliberately create unbearable and inhumane conditions for prisoners, especially political prisoners, to achieve their goal — extrajudicial killings of dissenters.”

According to official statistics, there are 19 prisons and detention centers in Tajikistan. During riots in the prisons of Khujand and Vahdat in 2018 and 2019, 50 people died. Each time, officials claimed that the riots were organized by Islamic extremists, but human rights defenders point out that the mistreatment of prisoners and extortion are also possible causes of the prisoners’ rebellion.