First Grain of Sand — Page 96
80 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND geometry, to which I said that I am a religious person, which means they should inquire about issues like prayer and fasting. Instead, he asked me for the sum of 45 + 45. In answer, I told them I would have to count to determine the answer. After trying to do the math through finger counting, I asked the translator if the answer is 80. When he said no, I picked my hands up and once again started counting on my fingers. Losing patience, the State Prosecutor interjected that the answer is 90. On a subsequent interrogation, when my tormentors had beaten me so severely that I was left with critical wounds, I needed to be taken to the prison hospital, where I remained for two months. Before my release, the Civil Surgeon needed to ask me some final questions to confirm my mental and physical condition and did this final assessment in the hospital in the presence of the same State Prosecutor and translator who normally presided over my interrogations. Since it was now a medical matter, the case was out of the State Prosecutor's power and the most important opin- ion that mattered at that time was that of the Civil Surgeon, who would need to write his final report and assessment of me. After the Civil Surgeon asked all his questions and completed his assessment of my condition, the State Prosecutor interjected, asking if he could also ask a couple questions in the surgeon's pres- ence, for which the surgeon granted permission. This prosecutor, who was considered an accomplished scholar in Tatar and the most gifted litigator in Tashkent, proceeded to ask me the sum of 17 + 17. I immediately responded saying 34. He then asked the sum of 19 + 19, to which I responded 38. He quickly asked the sum of 18 + 18, to which I responded 36. He then fell silent, and the