Refusal to respond to the Chechen authorities' call was the decisive factor in Dzhumaev's full prison term

The case of Chechen native Said-Muhammad Djumaev, who received penalties in the colony that excluded his parole, fit into the trend of the penitentiary system's attitude towards prisoners who are opponents of the government.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" previously wrote, Said-Muhammad Djumaev served his full five-year sentence in the case of an attack on a security officer at a rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow and was released from the colony.

The head of the Foundation "In Defense of Prisoners' Rights"* Valentin Bogdan noted that everything related to the opposition is "a red rag to a bull" for FSIN employees. He does not rule out that the refusal to respond to the call of the Chechen authorities was one of the reasons for the tightening of the regime for Dzhumaev. "If a person is in the opposition, and if he does not want to repent, then he is out of step," the interlocutor believes.

"Naturally, much depends on how the prisoner behaves in the colony itself. But there are also assignments (from above) that require, say, a person to be oppressed little by little. For example, a person is not allowed to correspond, they are "frozen", as they say, until the censor reads. A month or two passes, and he starts to get nervous," Bogdan said.

According to him, the practice of using SHIZO and EPKT to block parole for unwanted prisoners is widespread "all the time." "A person is often put in a hopeless situation. Because, even if a year has passed since the last penalty was imposed, (the colony employees) will still say in court that there were violations. Moreover, it happens that a penalty is imposed not only on those on the informal "black list". But also, say, on people who are needed by the colony - electricians, welders. They are sometimes given a penalty so that such a person does not get parole and continues to work," Bogdan explained.

Representative of the Dismas Foundation for the Protection of Prisoners' Rights, human rights activist Boris Ushakov reported that the attitude of the colony staff towards the prisoner often depends on his nationality, religion, and beliefs. "In recent years, there have been a lot of complaints that the management of the colonies call riot police and special forces to places where there are practicing Muslims, tear up or burn books and religious items, and impose penalties on the prisoners," he said.

According to Ushakov, the colony staff view those convicted of attacking security forces as potentially dangerous. "Therefore, they believe that (such a prisoner) should be (placed) in a punishment cell, so that there are more penalties that will prevent parole. Moreover, these are completely minor violations, for example, not greeting a colony employee properly. In general, only those who cooperate with the administration receive parole," the source explained.

Many convicted people from Chechnya are held in harsh conditions, he said under the conditions anonymity human rights activist familiar with the realities of Chechnya. "An additional incentive for (pressure on Dzhumaev) by the employees of the penitentiary system was the statements of the Chechen authorities," he said.

According to him, almost all convicts are offered to cooperate with the administration of the colony. "And there are many cases where convicts refused such cooperation and were pressured for it," the interlocutor said.

More details about the Dzhumaev case can be found in the "Caucasian Knot" reference "The Dzhumaev Case: Between Kadyrov and Navalny".

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