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Reporters Notebook: Inside a Prison in Uzbekistan

Navbahor Imamova

   TAVAKSAY, UZBEKISTAN -- "You know where I suffered most? In freedom,"
   says Rustam, looking deeply into my eyes as I start my interview with
   this 24-year-old Uzbek prisoner. We are sitting in the medical ward of
   [1]Colony Number 7 in Tavaksay, about 1½ hours from Uzbekistan's
   capital, Tashkent.

   Recently, [2]VOA won unprecedented access to this prison, one that has
   imprisoned inmates since 1936 when Joseph Stalin ran the Soviet Union.
   Tavaksay's prison population peaked at between 4,000 and 5,000 under
   independent Uzbekistan's late leader Islam Karimov, but has since been
   reduced to about 1,000.

References

   1. https://youtu.be/jmCpO-hHC1A
   2. https://youtu.be/fK9LpOR0oz4

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