Uzbek man's suicide attempt reveals problems with immigration center
The injury that the Uzbek man argues he got from being assaulted by the staff of Cheongju Immigration Process Center, in red circle. / Yonhap
By Lee Jin-a
An Uzbek man has tried to kill himself the Cheongju Immigration Processing Center’s foreign care facility.
According to the center and the Cheongju Human Rights Center for Migrant Workers, the man, 33, tried to hang himself at at 1:30 p.m. Monday. A staff member found him hanging from a noose tied to a steel bar two meters above the floor and saved him.
“He attempted to commit suicide while all staff members and foreign probationers were watching him,” the immigration center’s official said. “Due to the immediate rescue, he is now in good health.”
The human rights center said the man tried to kill himself because the immigration center did not allow him to go to an outside hospital when he was ill. It said this was in retaliation for the man suing the center’s staff for allegedly assaulting him last year.
The Uzbek man claimed a facility official threatened to shoot him with a gas gun and staff had verbally and physically abused him. He also alleged that doctors at a hospital outside the facility did not give him proper treatment.
The immigration center denied his allegations.
“None of his arguments are true,” a immigration center spokesperson said. “We accepted most of his requests to receive treatment in a hospital outside the facility.
“The injury that he argues he got from being assaulted by the facility’s staff is actually from eczema. The illegal immigrant is arguing that he was abused by our staff to avoid forced deportation.”
The immigration center faces another abuse case after a Sri Lankan man reportedly alleged that two staff members tied him to a chair and assaulted him.
Prosecutors are planning an investigation to decide whether to indict the center’s staff.