Translated material
Bashkir activist complained about conditions of detention in the colony
Bashkir activist Ramilya Saitova, who is serving her sentence in colony settlement No. 6 in Sterlitamak, complained about the conditions of detention and called them torture. Idel.Realii writes about this with reference to the activist’s lawyer Elvira Shamsutdinova.
The colony in which Saitova is located is a mixed-type colony, which consists of male and female buildings. “The department consists of two rooms. The area of one is 20 square meters. This room accommodates ten women on five two-story bunks. There are ten iron stools, but no toilet or washbasin. The second room houses 20 women. The bathroom with washbasin is located in another building. If necessary, all 20 women are taken out at the same time and escorted across the street to the toilet. Both buildings are non-residential, there is no ventilation, no air at all, no fire alarm,” said Shamsutdinova.
She added that due to protests over the conditions of detention, Saitova was sent to a punishment cell (punishment cell) three times - the activist had already spent 25 days there. “It’s very cold in the cell - the temperature is plus 15 degrees both day and night. Her clothes are only thin, she has to wear five layers; Warm clothes are not allowed. According to Ramili, she was lying on the floor and freezing. Getting up to the punishment cell at five in the morning, then the bunk is raised. The food is very meager - “gruel”. You can't eat your own food. It is also prohibited to communicate with relatives,” this is how the lawyer described the conditions of detention in the punishment cell.
According to her, now they plan to transfer Saitova to one of the colonies of Mordovia as a “malicious violator of the regime.” The trial to change the correctional facility is scheduled for April 11.
In November 2021, the Kirovsky District Court of Ufa found Ramilya Saitova guilty of public calls for extremist activities (Part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced her to three years in prison in a penal colony. The court also banned the activist from administering Internet sites for two years.
The case was opened due to statements in some videos on the YouTube channel “Ramilya Saitova - Aksarlak”. A few days before her arrest in 2020, the activist posted a video announcing the Bashkir People’s Assembly. She added to the agenda of the event questions about “the demolition of all [Orthodox] crosses in the Urals” and “an ultimatum to the Armenians” living in Bashkortostan.
- On her personal page on VKontakte, Ramilya Saitova calls herself the chairman of the “People of Bashkortostan for Fair Elections!” movement, a member of the presidium of the “Congress of the Bashkir People” and the secretary of the “Council of Bashkir Elders”. In the summer of 2019, Saitova was nominated for the election of the head of Bashkortostan.
- In September 2020, the activist was sentenced to 10 days of arrest because of the video “Where do we get so many Armenians?” In February 2020, she was arrested for five days for failure to pay a fine due to police detention during observation of the September elections. In December 2019, the activist was fined 20 thousand rubles for publishing a video message in which she called for an uncoordinated action in defense of nature.
- At the end of January, Saitova’s car was stopped by traffic police officers, allegedly because they had a tip on her. After refusing to get out of the car, a traffic police officer broke out the side window and forcibly pulled Saitova out. As a result, a protocol was drawn up against her for disobeying a police officer (Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code).