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Elena Urlaeva got sick after her trip to Turkey |
What happened to the rights activist?
Shortly before 5 p.m. on Saturday, I met Urlayeva’s relatives at the gates of the mental hospital. There were her husband Mansur and her elder son, Denis. Patients can be visited from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. so this was the best time. On my way to the hospital, I found out what had happened to Elena.
Her husband and son said that Urlayeva had not talked much about her trip to Turkey, where she travelled on Uzbek opposition leader Muhammad Salih’s invitation.
At the same time, there is no doubt that she flew to Turkey and she had an online return ticket to Istanbul. On 27 March, her nephew went to see her off at the airport.
Yelena was quite normal when leaving for Istanbul but she was absolutely abnormal when she had returned on Sunday 1 April. She was talking only about religion, chanting Muslim prayers and prohibiting her husband from watching television and her son from going to school.
To her relative’s horror, her abnormal behaviour was worsening, reaching its height on Thursday. To confirm her words, Denis showed a video shot by his cell phone.
It has been shown on TV many times that members of various sects behave precisely this way after being drugged with special poison by their spiritual leaders.
When they had realised that something strange was happening to Urlayeva that could affect her health and life seriously, relatives were forced to call ambulance.
Yelena flatly refused to go to hospital and this is why a court session held the following day prescribed compulsory treatment for her.
Woman behind bars
When the door of the third hospital department where Yelena was placed had opened hospitably only close relatives were allowed to come in.
However, relatives are not allowed everything either. Their cell phones were taken away and given to me to keep.
The door to the department remained open with a metal bar blocking the way. Coming from the dining hall to meet her relatives, Urlayeva noticed me through that bar and approached the door.
She looked very fatigued and thin but her look was intelligent, her behaviour as normal as it had been before her departure to Turkey.
When I saw my friend, who was feeling very bad, my heart was wrung with compassion for this brave woman.
We did not manage to talk properly because of a watchful hospital attendant who kept telling Urlayeva to keep away from the door.
Apart from talking about her condition, Yelena had only enough time to say that she did not remember what had happened to her.
“I was drugged with something. Please, tell that I demand an international investigation be carried out into this case,” Urlayeva said.
No need for hasty conclusions
Mansur and Denis finally came out. They said that Yelena had come back to herself. But she looked fatigued and exhausted so they considered that it was too early for her to go home though she had asked to be discharged.
“Let her rest a little and recover from the shock she had. Visitors and phone calls will not allow Lena to rest at home,” they said.
Mansur and Denis believe that Yelena was drugged with some poison or hypnotised, or perhaps both at the same time.
But they remain bewildered wondering who needed this.
“Lena was supposed to travel to Switzerland leading a big delegation of Uzbek human rights activists to deliver a speech on human rights. Perhaps, this is what is behind her case,” they suggested.
However, they warned hotheads among human rights activists and journalists against accusing the Uzbek authorities, as they usually do, before it is clear and an investigation really would have to be conducted.
They said that Urlayeva had given a blood test and the test results might become the first stage of this kind of investigation.
Uznews.net
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