"Uzbekistan: Surviving the Monkey Cage — Sanjar's Story", HRW

http://features.hrw.org/features/Witness_Surviving_the_Monkey_Cage_2014/index.html

Sanjar Umarov lifted his pants legs and rolled down his socks to show the scars that criss-crossed his ankles. Umarov, a former political prisoner from Uzbekistan, said the scars served as a permanent reminder of his time in the “monkey cage,” a cell that left prisoners exposed to the outdoors. His first time in that cell, the frigid winter almost killed him. He and the other prisoners, wearing only lightweight shirts and pants, rocked back and forth to keep warm and stay alive.

The second time, it was his fellow prisoners who almost did him in. Guards threw him in the cage after Umarov refused to sign a confession saying the United States gave him $20 million to overthrow Uzbekistan’s government. Other prisoners in the cell were ordered to make him sign. They beat him, broke his thumb, and choked him, damaging his vocal chords and leaving him with a permanently gravely voice.

Before he was imprisoned on trumped-up charges, Umarov was a leading businessman in Uzbekistan, helping found the country’s main telecom network.

26-IX-14, HRW