KHUJAND, September 24, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Residents of the Sughd province serving their sentences in penal colonies in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Russia are sending messages to their relatives through the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations in those countries, Asia-Plus has learned from Rano Kamolova, coordinator of the search service program within the Sughd branch of Tajikistan’s Red Crescent Society (RCS).  

            According to her, 18 such messages letters have been transmitted by the Red Cross to the province this year. 

“These messages are written on special letterheads of the Red Cross Commissions and they are transmitted in an open through officers working with penal colonies, who hand over them to employees of the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations for sending to addressees,” Kamolova said.  

            “Every month, we visit penal colonies in the Sughd province to provide them with such letterheads,” she said, noting that servicemen also use such a delivery.