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| Azerbaijani prison revolt put down |
| By AP |
| Published: 02/21/2005 |
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Azerbaijan police and security forces put down on Wednesday an uprising by inmates demanding better conditions and the ouster of the chief of a prison in the Azerbaijani capital, and several government soldiers were wounded in the operation. Shooting and an explosion broke out overnight as troops moved into Baku's high-security Prison No. 11, where more than 200 inmates had broken onto the roof on Tuesday. Several ambulances could be seen leaving the area but it was unclear how many casualties there were, witnesses said. Police had moved observers far away from the prison perimeter shortly after midnight, and water cannons then moved in, shooting heavy streams of water at the inmates. After dawn, prisoners descended a ladder from the roof. Three apparently wounded inmates were lowered by a crane, one of them seemingly badly hurt. "The operation was carried out without losses. Several Interior Ministry troops officers were wounded, however," Yashar Aliev, Baku's deputy police chief, told reporters at the site. He said some of the inmates had tried to commit suicide but didn't elaborate. Several witnesses claimed they had seen inmates cutting their wrists but it was unclear how they could have seen that from so far away, in the dark. The Justice Ministry issued a terse statement Wednesday morning announcing the creation of a commission to investigate the causes of the incident. On Tuesday, Natig Talybov, the head of the Justice Ministry department overseeing prisons, told reporters that the protesters' demands were illegal. He said, however, that the authorities would negotiate a peaceful end to the protest and pledged not to use force. Amid negotiations Tuesday, groups of inmates stayed on the roof of the three-story prison, chanting "Resignation!" and holding white sheets with "SOS" written on them, along with statements denouncing the prison chief. Other inmates from the prison, which held close to 850 convicts, strolled around the prison yard. |
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