An Uzbek farmer hanged himself after confiscation of his property

According to the report of centralasian.org, relatives of a farmer Sanjar Baratov say that he killed himself after the confiscation of his property by the BCE employees for not paying back the bank loan.

Sanjar Baratov, 33, a resident of “Navruz” town in “Dustlik” district, Jizzakh region, was found hanged on November 6 in the barn near his house. One of the policemen of the district reported that the body of a young farmer was found a day later, on November 7. “The relatives thought that he had gone to visit his friend. The district prosecutor’s office is investigating the case of farmer’s suicide,” an officer of “Dustlik” district police department said.

Father of the deceased farmer, 58-year-old Rabim Baratov, says that several days before his son’s death, employees of the Bureau of Compulsory Execution (BCE) confiscated his property. During that time, they mocked his sick wife.

“On that day, only my wife was at home. My son - Sanjar was working on the field. And my daughter-in-law went to pick cotton. At this time, unexpectedly, the BCE staff broke into our house and told my wife that they would take things if debt is not paid instantly. My wife asked them to come later. In response, the BCE staff began to make fun of my wife. Then they entered by force into one of the rooms and took a carpet with them,” Rabim Baratov says.

According to the farmer’s father, he did not expect that the illegal actions of the BCE staff could bring his son to suicide. “Judging by law, no matter how much my son’s debt was, the BCE employees did not have the right to collect things from our house. Because they belonged not only to Sanjar, but to me, my wife, children and grandchildren. In accordance with the agreement, the bank should have waited for the repayment of the loan for another 14 months, and only then take legal measures,” Rabim Baratov got emotional.

The deputy head of the Bureau of Compulsory Execution in “Dustlik” district Akmal Nazarov stated that the bureau’s employees acted within the framework of the law. “We have the court’s decision and its ruling, according to which the farmer had to repay his bank loan. Now all these documents are at the prosecutor’s office. Our employees collected property from the house of Sanjar Baratov under the list of execution for last year’s debts. Our employees entered his house with witnesses, no insults or threats against his mother were expressed. Currently, the district prosecutor’s office is conducting an operational check with us,” he said.

He added that last year the farmer Sanjar Baratov owed the bank 57 million sums (about $6,900) and this year - 83 million sums ($10,000).

According to Rabim Baratov, last year his son’s cotton harvest was destroyed by a spider mite and this year by a budworm. “We used all the possible ways to fight the pecticides. But it didn’t give any result, the whole harvest was devastated. This happened not only in my son’s field, but also in the cotton fields of other farmers in Jizzakh. This is a natural disaster. My son hoped that this year he would have a good harvest of cotton and fulfill the plan from the first harvest. But it didn’t work,” Rabim Baratov said.